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I 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


By AUGUSTA KORTRECHT 

A DIXIE ROSE 

Dainty and sweet and 
quaint as its name in- 
dicates, is this whole- 
some little picture 
of school-girl life in 
the South of today. 

Colored frontispiece by 
Ethel Pennewill Brown 

J2tno. Decorated cloth , $ 1.50 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS PHILADELPHIA 






FINALLY A SHADOW FELL ACROSS HER, AND LOOKING UP 

SHE SAW NICHOLAS 


Page 316 




DIXIE ROSE 
IN BLOOM 


AUGUSTA KORTRECHT 


WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY 


ETHEL PENNEWILL BROWN 


PHILADELPHIA &■ LONDON 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

1912 




I 

COPYRIGHT, I912 
BY J. B. LIFPINCOTT COMPANY 


PUBLISHED, OCTOBER, 191a 


« • 
* .* 


?- 


PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 
PHILADELPHIA, U.SsA. 

ix- zWl 



TO 

FANNIE GOBER NANCE 


WHOSE SHADOW I WAS, AS SHE WAS MINE 































CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Jean Arrives at Midnight in a Foreign 

Land 9 

II. Getting Acquainted With the Girls of 

Villa Elinore 27 

III. News of Secrets Across the Sea 47 

IV. Jean Raises a Storm and Finds Shelter 

in a Fairy Attic 57 

V. Jean Adds Fuel to Irenka’s Wrath 81 

VI. A Baron, a Student and a Tattletale 

Maker of Trouble 104 

VII. The Masquerade is Followed by a Chal- 
lenge to Fight a Duel 125 

VIII. Uncle Jasper Comes and Goes, But His 

Secret is Not Told 141 

IX. Parnassus is Drenched While Witness- 
ing the Duel 159 

X. Two Girls in Disgrace, Another in Bed, 

and a Household in Suspense 180 

XI. Jean Learns Two Secrets, and the Fu- 
ture Changes for Several People 204 

XII. Mr. Nicholas d’Owoski Offers a Suggestion 217 

XIII. The Roses Take Root at Home Once More 231 

XIV. A Birthday, a Falling Out, and a Big, 

Fierce, Lion Dog 217 

XV. Paul Asks a Question Which Jean Post- 
pones Until the New Year 276 

XVI. What Became of Uncle Jasper’s Sleeping 

Pills? 289 

XVII. The Old Year Goes Out and the New 

Comes in 308 



































































A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


I 

JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT IN A 
FOREIGN LAND 

“ Welcome, my new American pupil! Wel- 
come to Villa Elinore!’ ’ 

A much wrapped-up traveller, who had just 
left her carriage at the gate and was fol- 
lowed by a maid bearing an armful of extra 
furs, let herself be led from the cold black- 
ness of a February night into the dimly 
lighted hall. There she blinked for a moment, 
slipped off her gloves, turned down the cor- 
ners of her mouth as if to cry, then turned 
them up and smiled instead, holding out both 
hands with a quick, impulsive gesture. 

“Oh, I’m so glad to get here,” she ex- 
claimed; “I’m so glad you’re so glad to see 
me! You must be or you wouldn’t say wel- 
come like that! ” 

The tall white-haired lady who had opened 


9 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


the door smiled also, despite a natural in- 
clination toward reserve, for something in 
the newcomer’s manner was apt to force 
smiles even where gravity usually sat su- 
preme. She took the proffered hands be- 
tween her own and gently pressed them. 

“I am Miss Evertz,” she said; 1 ‘ and, of 
course, you are Mr. Jasper Rose’s niece, 
who ” 

“I’m Jean,” the girl broke in; “Jean 

Rose Spencer and Oh, I beg your 

pardon!” 

Miss Evertz signified with dignity that 
the interruption was forgiven although a 
somewhat astonishing breach of etiquette, 
and continued her speech: “I have waited 
up. I hope Louise found you at the steamer 
without delay? I trust that your uncle is 
well? Take off your coats and come with 
me. You shall have hot milk to drink, and 
then to the bed for rest.” 

Jean relinquished her wraps to the rosy 
maid and followed Miss Evertz into a room 
that was made comfortable by a high porce- 
10 


JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT 


lain stove. A table with a gaily embroid- 
ered cover was set for one ; a kettle bubbled 
over an alcohol flame; a tremendous gray 
cat rubbed himself against her in greeting, 
as wide awake and friendly as if the hour had 
been noon rather than nearly midnight. 
Boiled milk was a dose the girl detested 
as a rule, but politeness forbidding any com- 
ment she accepted the cup and sipped its 
contents gingerly. To her surprise, however, 
it tasted very good and made her talkative. 

“I’ve had such a funny voyage from New 
York,” she said. “You know already, Miss 
Evertz, that I haven’t anybody in the world 
belonging to me but Uncle Jasper and Ned 
— Ned’s his nephew just the same as I’m his 
niece — and he is the best uncle that ever 
lived. He was going to take us travelling 
together, to Egypt and everywhere, but be- 
fore we had been a week away from home our 
plans were all upset.” 

The tall lady was studying the face across 
from her, noting the merry brown eyes, the 
sensitive mouth and the softness of the fine, 
n 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


fair hair; but she put in a question to keep 
the talk alive. 

“ Where did you leave Mr. Rose!” she 
asked. “ I should like to see him. I knew 
him when he lived here many years ago. ’ 9 

Jean drained the cup, nibbled at a honey 
cake she had taken from the dish, discarded 
it for another, and went on cheerfully: 
“That’s the joke! That’s the funny part! 
After all our planning about the fun we’d 
have on board the steamer, Ned dropped out 
and Uncle Jasper got accidently left behind! 
I came over by myself — absolutely alone, ex- 
cept, of course, for the other passengers.” 

She laughed, then tried a different variety 
of cake, found the tiny seed encrusting it 
disagreeable, and laid it on her plate, to the 
watcher’s plain disapproval. 

“It was Big-Injun-Ned’s fault,” she said 
presently. 1 i He visited some old friends near 
New York and nothing would suit him after 
that but college, right then and there. No 
travel, no Egyptian deserts, none of the 
sights I was dreaming of for weeks! So 
12 


JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT 


uncle gave in and put him in a preparatory 
school and postponed the fun until vacation. 
And — our whole family is fly-up-the-creek 
and impulsive — he remembered your Pension 
and said it was the very place for me.” 

“Mr. Rose did not come over himself ?” 
the listener inquired. 

“He meant to, I’m almost sure. But he 
got telegrams from the South where we live 
and he wouldn’t tell me about them, although 
he laughed as if it were a joke. We were to 
sail very early on Saturday. Uncle took me to 
the steamer the night before, and said he had 
one more trip to make and would not disturb 
me when he came aboard. I meant to keep 
one ear awake, but next thing I knew it was 
morning ! The engines were pumping, we were 
puffing worse than whales, and there was noth- 
ing in sight but water ! They had sailed away 
and left my uncle ! Poor little me ! I always 
was unfortunate!” Once more she sought 
comfort among the cakes, hut a firm hand 
reached out and took away the plate. 

“And then?” The inquiry came as Jean 


13 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


paused to think things over, as she had been 
thinking them over for some days already. 

“Well, the next was that I got a wireless 
telegram, a real one, the first I ever saw. 
Uncle said you would meet me, and for me to 
keep right on. I had to keep right on any- 
way, unless I jumped overboard and tried 
swimming back to land. It seemed awfully 
cold for swimming.” 

Miss Evertz had to smile at the shiver 
which accompanied the words, and again it 
was against her inclination. When she got 
her face straight she said: “I also had a 
message from Mr. Rose, requesting that I 
meet his niece who would become our pupil. 
More I do not know, but it is certain there 
is no cause to worry. Your uncle may have 
been summoned to your Cousin Ned. In good 
time he will arrive. Now I shall take you to 
the bed.” 

They started out together, but at the 
threshold Jean reached over with one of her 
swift gestures and touched her companion 
on the hand. 


14 


JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT 

“Oh, Miss Evertz,” she cried, “I didn’t 
know you would speak English so beautifully, 
and I’m so happy to be in Germany. Oh, 
I am so happy!” 

Before the tall lady thought to defend her- 
self the new pupil had suddenly planted a 
kiss upon her chin, not being able to reach 
the cheek for which she aimed. 

“I know I’m going to like you,” Jean in- 
sisted over and over; “ I can tell already 
that I’m going to like you!” 

Miss Evertz made no reply to this com- 
pliment, only clapping a snowy handkerchief 
over the kiss, almost as if she hoped to keep 
it there; but when they had traversed sev- 
eral long halls, mounted two flights of steps 
and halted at an open door, she said : ‘ ‘ Take 
the candle from that table. You will find 
everything in readiness, I hope. Be as quiet 
as you can and sleep well. To-morrow our 
Irenka, who is a good girl, shall be your 
friend and explain how you may please us.” 

It was disconcerting to find that she was 
to please the Germans instead of having the 

15 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Germans do their best to make things nice 
for her. Moreover, the room beyond the open 
door looked mysteriously dark, and Jean 
could not remember a time when she had 
slept in a room alone. She looked after the 
vanishing guide, and gave a cry of entreaty. 

“I — I — could I go downstairs and sit up 
by that lovely stove ?” she begged; “I don’t 
believe I need any sleep to-night. I slept a 
good deal coming over. Besides — I’m very 
fond of cats!” 

Miss Evertz came noiselessly to her. “Do 
not be a foolish little child,” she said. “Go 
at once to bed.” 

“I could sleep in your room,” proposed 
Jean; “I never make a bit of noise. If you 
had a couch — or I wouldn ’t mind even on the 
foot of your bed. Please — please — you can’t 
leave me here all by myself!” 

Miss Evertz hesitated, but was not lost. 
She shook her head with great firmness and 
said rather sharply: “It is not well to give 
in to oneself. It is well to learn courage. 

16 


JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT 

Therefore, take the candle and go to your 
bed.” 

Thus commanded, and hoping no longer 
for sympathy, Jean set out, light in hand, 
on a tour of examination, of scrutiny and 
of inspection. Her first discovery was that 
the apartment was enormous in size, so big 
indeed that her light showed only the part 
where she was standing, leaving the rest in 
shadow. Close beside her was a white bed, 
with a chair and a small night table; she 
looked critically at these, took it for granted 
they were hers, and passed farther into the 
room. Suddenly she stumbled over a chair 
and nearly buried herself, candle and all, in 
the fat feather mattress of another couch 
precisely like the one she had just left. So 
after all she was not alone ! 

Surely there must be a live girl under that 
piled-up covering! The thought brought 
back her courage with such a rush that she 
tiptoed nearer and bent over to peep and 
listen. She dared not turn back the covers, 
2 17 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


or even to touch them ; but two heavy molas- 
ses-colored braids lay across the pillow, and 
from its depths came a sound that might have 
been laughter or sobs, sneezes or hiccoughs, 
or all four together for aught that Jean 
could tell. 

She was still examining the thick plaits 
upon the pillow when the scratch-scratch of 
matches sounded close beside her. There 
followed a scratch-scratch from a second cor- 
ner, and then from the third; three feather 
mattresses were thrown back, three candles 
flared up and disclosed three laughing faces 
framed in as many ruffled nightcaps! Jean 
looked expectantly from one to the other, and 
the owner of the molasses braids was first to 
speak : 

4 ‘Welcome to our school, American 
maiden !” she began with pompous emphasis, 
waving both arms as if to offer the freedom 
of the Villa. Then she lost her eloquence in 
a spasm of mirth, but calmed down to finish : 
“Ach du Liebe, how that was comical! Aunt 
Annya Evertz brings you to the door and 
18 


JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT 


she believes us to be sleeping. How can 
young girls sleep when a new one is coming — 
and from so far across the ocean! Have we 
not great anxiety to look and see wbat she 
is like! Surely we have anxiety to see. You 
walk about with the nigbt-ligbt in your bands 
and a sad and melancholy manner. It is very 
comical ! ’ ’ 

“Do not listen,” advised the nightcap 
nearest her own bed, and Jean turned in that 
direction. “ It is only Laura who speaks, and 
I am Renka. You have beard Aunt Annya 
say that I shall be your friend. I am Russian. 
Will you come and shake my band, because 
the cold is so great I do not wish to rise!” 

There was a touch of hauteur in the in- 
vitation which the American girl did not 
relish. It seemed to hint that Mademoiselle 
Irenka exacted obedience and tribute. Never- 
theless they shook hands across the feather 
bed, which to Jean’s surprise was on top 
of Renka instead of under her. The latter 
went on talking in her fluent though stiff 
English : 


19 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“There are six of us besides these in Villa 
Elinore,” she explained, as Jean stood look- 
ing down upon the aristocratic face in the 
funny cap. “We are happy. We learn many 
lessons, and we also play much pleasure. 
Aunt Annya has two sisters besides herself/ ’ 

“Do they let us call them Aunt?” asked 
Jean. “I think that’s lovely. But aren’t you 
afraid of them? Miss Evertz was awfully 
solemn because I ate so many little cakes. 
She looked solemn.” 

Irenka shook her head. “I do not know 
that word Solemn,’ ” she confessed, “but 
Aunt Annya is good, and Aunt Lotti is an 
angel — a fat one who makes music on the 
piano — and Aunt Minni, ah, Aunt Minni is 
the va-ry cross Aunt. You will have fear 
of her. Only I, Irenka, have fear of no one, 
for I am Russian. But all others are timid.” 

Here Laura fortunately wound up a second 
fit of the giggles and thought it was her turn 
at the conversation. “I have laid chocolates 
beneath your pillow, American wild one, for a 
welcome. Aunt Annya has told you there 
20 


JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT 

will be no sweets, yes? Aunt Annya tells 
each one this. But I have put chocolate 
beneath your pillow, and if you will feel 
you will find.” 

“Do not hear her,” Irenka’s tone had 
grown peremptory, and despite the cold she 
raised herself in bed and sat like a young 
queen issuing commands of state. “Laura 
speaks va-ry bad English and too many 
times. She will be punished because she has 
bought bonbons on the sly. I am eldest girl 
in all the school, and I shall be the new one’s 
friend. She will love me and obey and I 
shall be good to her. Laura speaks bad 
English.” 

“I speak even as well as you, Renka,” 
protested Molasses-Head with indignation, 
whereupon the Russian dropped into German 
so rapid and so sharp that poor Laura went 
down under the attack, and burying her 
vanquished self in the feathers, left a clear 
field to the victor. 

Jean was dazed by what she saw and heard. 
That she should admire Irenka seemed pos- 


21 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


sible, for even with, the absurd nightcap the 
girl had a quality of fineness that drew the 
American to her; but to love her and obey I 
What a joke such talk would be if she only 
had her best friend here to laugh with her! 
At recollection of her chum, so far away in 
the Sout&r across the ocean, Jean grew sober 
again, and turning her back on the Russian 
she began slowly to undress ; for she had few 
outlets for a more than ordinarily affection- 
ate nature, and the parting from Polly Martin 
had hurt her. The brown eyes filled with 
tears, and she jumped nervously at sound 
of Irenka’s voice: 

‘ 4 Please come to my side,” the Russian 
requested; “I have a thing to say to you. ,, 

Jean hesitated between refusal and ac- 
quiescence, but was spared decision. 

“Hush! Hush!” the interruption came 
from Laura, who blew out her light as she 
gave the warning. “Run quickly to your 
bed and cover, American girl! We have 
been heard and Aunt Minni comes!” 

“She is va-ry cross,” added Irenka in a 
22 


JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT 


tone that seemed less courageous than her 
boast had been. “You must go fastly now.” 

Jean had heard no sound hut their own 
voices, but the candles had all gone out at 
the first alarm, so she took it for granted 
the experienced ones knew better than she; 
and having no desire to meet just then a new 
Aunt who was va-ry cross, she snuggled down 
under the bedclothes, dressed as she was. 
She was hardly well hidden before a light 
came noiselessly through the hall and stopped 
at the open door. Aunt Minni apparently 
satisfied herself that the chicks in this nest 
at least were safe and went on to examine 
the next. Jean slipped out in the cold dark- 
ness and got ready for the night, drawing 
what she needed higgledy-piggledy from the 
bag beside her bed, afraid to speak lest the 
visitor might return. 

It was wonderful how interesting the world 
had grown in this last half hour. Nobody 
realized perhaps what a disappointment it 
was to Jean when her cousin decided to stay 
in his native land and not to travel, as had 


23 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


been the carefully laid plan. In the first 
place, she was fond of Ned, loving him 
through all their little wrangles and recon- 
ciliations, and missing his company keenly 
now that she was deprived of it. In the 
second, that young man’s defection had put 
her into the Evertz Pension some months 
earlier than she desired, for Uncle Jasper 
had suddenly reversed the original order of 
proceeding and ordered school first and travel 
after, instead of the other way around. Then 
the losing of Uncle Jasper himself had added 
to her depression. Miss Evertz ’s aloofness 
had not served to comfort her and she was 
ready to cry with weariness and anxiety. 

But here was a crowd of girls who seemed 
brimming over with fun and mischief. Laura 
was merry company; Irenka was a high- 
spirited young lady with a character worth 
studying. The third bed was occupied by a 
little black-haired creature who spoke no 
English, but kept up a perpetual chatter in 
her native tongue, receiving occasional re- 
sponses and checks which did not shut her 

24 


JEAN ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT 


up at all. Her name, Jean understood, was 
Hannchen. The younger girls made no 
further sound after Aunt Minni’s visit, but 
Irenka ventured a whispered question: 

“Have you a friend, a va-ry good friend, 
in your home?” 

Jean raised herself on her pillow to an- 
swer, but the cold made her drop back into 
the softness of the bed. “A friend?” she 
echoed eagerly. “I just wish she could be 
here too! Her name is Polly Martin, but 
everybody calls her Shad or Shadow because 
she’s always with me.” 

“Is she beautiful? ” Irenka wished to 
know. “Has she great wealth and many to 
serve her?” 

“She’s poor,” said Jean; then added 
warmly: “She’s the finest girl that ever 
lived, and the best and sweetest.” 

“Sleep well,” said Irenka; “7 shall be 
your friend, and you shall think no more 
of the one who is far away.” 

This calm assertion made Jean laugh, but 
she offered no reply; and before the cuckoo 
25 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


had come from his carved house inside the 
clock and called the hour of one into the still- 
ness, the Germans had entered dreamland. 
The stranger lay somewhat longer awake, 
going over and over the events of the day 
and night. Her last thought was of Uncle 
Jasper. Why had he left her on the steamer 
and gone back? For some good reason, she 
felt sure. But what? She wished he had 
not done it. She was homesick though she 
did not realize it and as she drifted into 
unconsciousness she said drowsily to herself : 

“I wish I could see Shadow! Miss Evertz 
needn’t to have been so icy because I kissed 
her old chin! Oh, I want Ned — and I want 
Uncle Jasper!” 


II 


GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE GIRLS 
OF VILLA ELINORE 

The sound that roused Jean from sleep 
next morning was such a chatter as she had 
never heard before in all her life, and rais- 
ing her head she looked about to see where 
she was and what could be the matter. Laura 
threw her a double handful of kisses at 
once; little Hannchen greeted her with a 
string of words which would have delighted 
her could she have understood, for they were 
flattering ; and Irenka said : 

“I am your friend. This week the whole 
Pension speaks your language. That is an 
old rule, one week English, one week French, 
and the next German. If one cannot, then 
one cannot, but each must try. You shall 
say no American that is not elegant.” 

“Not elegant !” Jean’s cheeks flushed 
slightly, and her voice was edged with dis- 
pleasure, but Irenka gave her no time for 
27 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


resentful answer, only smiling and adding: 

“Now we arise and dress for the morning 
coffee.’ ’ 

By daylight the big room looked very bare 
indeed, containing in addition to the beds, 
each with its chair and table, only a pair 
of double washstands and two broad dressers. 
Jean was informed that it was her duty 
as last arrival to get up first and close 
the window, and it was with a homesick 
thought of her colored nurse who had always 
spoiled her, that she rolled out and started 
across the floor. If Mammy knew how she 
was being ordered about by Russians, the 
old woman would come to her precious Blos- 
som if she had to swim the wide Atlantic. 
J ean felt sure of that. 

She shivered as she reached the current of 
cold air from outside, but the surprise that 
awaited her gave her imagination a new 
turn, and the exclamation she made roused 
her companions to a sitting posture among 
their pillows. Unconsciously she fell into 
Mammy’s style of speech: 

28 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 


“Lawsy-mussy, girls !” she cried. * 4 That 
must be a mountain , right there in our own 
front yard ! I never saw a mountain before, 
and it almost slapped me in the face!” 

The great dark hillside rose truly so near 
the window that it seemed she might touch 
it by merely reaching out a hand ; and com- 
ing as Jean did from a flat inland country, 
she was filled with wondering awe. She lin- 
gered now, shivering with cold, yet unable 
to tear herself away, until Irenka said: 

“It is but a va-ry small hill indeed. It 
remains there forever and will not fly away. 
Hurry you and dress.” 

“Oh,” said Jean, “how can you call it 
small? Do let’s hurry up and you can take 
me to the top of it this morning after we 
have breakfast. Uncle Jasper thinks climb- 
ing would do me a world of good. Won’t 
you, Irenka, please?” 

“The Aunts say when and where we go,” 
was the Russian girl’s reply, accompanied 
by a shrug of the shoulders. She could not 
understand this ecstasy over a modest hill- 


29 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


side when she had climbed a real Alpine peak 
last summer, and the American’s heat was 
as mysterious to her as her own coolness to 
Jean. 

“Lawsy-mussy,” Jean exclaimed a second 
time, turning to her clothes; “I forgot there 
was such a thing as Aunts! But I’ll ask 
Miss Annya and she will let you go, of course. 
Don’t be afraid, Irenka.” 

“You mean that I should be afraid?” 
inquired Irenka with unmistakable wrath. 
“I — a Russian ” 

Laura, however, rolled out from her warm 
bed at this juncture, and took part in the 
conversation. 

“What is this thing you call the ‘lawsy- 
mussy’?” she demanded, pumping her arms 
up and down and taking long breaths of the 
cold fresh air. “I love its sound. I can say 
lawsy-mussy to the master of the class in 
English, and he will be pleased that I make 
progress.” 

“No, he wouldn’t and you better not,” 
Jean advised, laughing at Laura’s contor- 

30 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 


tions. “Why don’t we have a fire to dress 
by? I’m frozen.” 

“One dresses qnicklier in the cold,” said 
Renka, then added: “You will speak no 
more, but let the foolish Laura alone and 
dress.” 

She explained which basin and which 
bureau the new girl was to have, and showed 
her about the trapeze exercise which always 
topped off the cold bath. Hannchen, who lay 
watching the stranger out of bright black 
eyes, was rousted from bed, and everybody 
fell silent to hurry with their toilets. After 
a while Jean broke this stillness: 

“Oh, somebody tell me quick,” she said. 
“Aunt Annya was talking last night about 
making curtseys to the teachers. Is it so or 
was she joking. I never heard of making 
bows, — really and sure-enough bows.” 

“One naturally makes the curtsey,” re- 
plied Irenka. “We call it the Knix. The 
young make the Knix before their elders. 
Do you not bow to your mother when you 
say good morning and good night?” 

31 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“I haven’t any mother,” Jean explained; 
“I have Uncle Jasper and Ned. But even 
girls that have mothers don’t how to them 
where I came from. Yon know I told you 

about Shad, my best friend ” 

“Shad?” remarked Laura, turning to take 
part in the conversation; “I have seen that 
word in the word book. It is a fish. ’ ’ 

Jean laughed, but before she could retort, 
Irenka. had caught up her full petticoats to 
give a lesson in the art of making hows. “I 
also have no mother,” she said, “but I 
have a noble father and seven brothers who 
are tall and grand. One is in this town 
in the University. I come in to the break- 
fast; they all arise ; I curtsey to the father — 
so — and kiss him the hand; he bends like a 
king, so proud, and kisses me the brow. I 
hold out the hand, and each brother kisses 
it in his turn. It is rightly that they should.” 

“I’d love to see Ned kiss my hand,” said 
Jean; but Laura broke in impatiently: 

“Talk with me, American, talk with me. 
I shall love you if you are gay, but there 


32 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 


came once a new girl who had a homesickness 
and she wept. Be not as her. Be full of 
laugh. ’ 7 

The stranger was accommodatingly full of 
mirth at this request, and Molasses-Head con- 
tinued: “Let us hide away your chocolates 
in that thing — of which I do not know the 
name.” 

She pointed to the travelling bag beside 
the bed, and J ean was glad to have her help 
in putting the confections out of sight. They 
were licking their fingers for the express pur- 
pose of drawing Irenka ’s chiding upon them, 
when a bell sounded from below and the 
Russian caught Jean’s hand in hers. 

“We make a line in the hall and in five 
minutes we enter the coffee-room. But firstly 
you shall know the other girls. We are ten 
altogether, six besides these in our room, 
which is the nicest room and is called Par- 
nassus. I stay behind to-day with you. I 
shall be your friend. That is an honor be- 
cause I am the cleverest girl in Villa Elinore 
and have been longest here.” 


3 


33 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


While Jean absorbed this frank self-praise 
they ran down two flights of stairs, to where 
half a dozen girls stood one behind the other, 
waiting for their leader and — could J ean have 
known it — still more eagerly for a glimpse 
of this stranger who had come from across 
the sea. She felt the curious eyes upon her, 
and held her head up, trying not to flinch 
under their gaze; but Irenka’s words of 
introduction soon made her realize that the 
others must be more uncomfortable than her- 
self, for the Russian was merciless in her 
comments : 

“The little one is Babette,” she began, 
with the truly beauty-child who led the line. 
“We call her the table police because she 
will tell the Aunts when you take too much 
cake or butter. Observe her. She knows 
not English but understands quite well-ly 
that I speak of her. ’ 9 

Babette was a darling, and Jean, observ- 
ing her as commanded, saw a little girl with 
a heavy mane of chestnut hair cut straight 
below the ears and brushed to shine like 


34 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 


satin. Her skin was as pink as roses, and 
notwithstanding the cold February morning 
her sleeves were cut to show two soft arms 
well above the elbow, while a pair of round 
bare knees peeped out between the scant skirt 
and the white, hand-knit socks. The new- 
comer’s eyes went reluctantly from this 
vision as Irenka’s voice directed, but her 
mind staid with Babette, so that she heard 
little of the other introductions. 

“The next is Eugenie, who is twelve and 
has little sense but will get more later on, 
I hope. It is not in books she needs sense 
but in her manners, which are not perfect. 
You have seen Hannchen and Laura, who 
sleep with us in Parnassus. Elsa is a dove 
girl who is always sweetly cooing; Hedwig, 
as you may see, is a round white pudding of 
a maiden; Lili is a merry one with hook 
nose and va-ry red cheeks. She takes home- 
sick in the night sometimes and then she is 
not merry. She weeps.” 

No one spoke before Irenka had regained 
her breath, so she continued: “That last 
35 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


one is Olga, and she is Russian like myself, 
and also the cousin to me. She is beautiful, 
with blond hair like your own, but a face 
that is white while yours is green because 
you are not healthy.” 

Whatever color poor Jean’s face may have 
shown before, it turned to a mortified scarlet 
at this plain speaking, for it is one thing 
to look interesting and frail and quite another 
to be called unhealthy green! She thought 
Irenka the very rudest girl she had ever met, 
and wondered with considerable heat why 
the noble father and the seven grand brothers 
had not taught her true politeness as well 
as the art of making curtseys. Just then 
the second bell was rung and the little pro- 
cession started toward the dining-room. 
Jean looked on while one girl after another 
spread her apron and made a low curtsey 
to the two old ladies at the table. Irenka 
spoke sharply in her ear, but the stranger 
only crimsoned a little more and without a 
bend of her knees she stopped behind the 


36 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 


empty place at her leader’s side. Neither 
of the Aunts made any comment, and during 
the long German prayer, Jean stole glances 
at each of her companions, drawing mental 
sketches for her first letter to Shadow. 

Aunt Annya was tall and straight with a 
small head covered by the softest of white 
hair, and her sister seemed her counterpart. 
There should he three of them, Jean remem- 
bered, and she turned impulsively to ask 
Irenka where the third one was, but some- 
thing in the Russian’s expression checked 
the whisper on her lips and set her to study- 
ing the girl instead. Irenka, seen now in a 
good light, was graceful and slender, with 
an aristocratic oval face and a wealth of 
dark hair above it. The lips were full and 
red, upturned at the corners, and there was 
something haughty in the set of the head on 
its delicate throat. 

From her neighbor Jean’s gaze went across 
the table to little Babette, who stood with 
reverently sober look; hut in the middle of 
37 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


the prayer two mischievous eyes were opened 
cautiously and the child gave Jean a swift, 
knowing smile; for she was an old pupil 
though so young in years, and had watched 
more than one new arrival examine her sur- 
roundings while Aunt Annya read the morn- 
ing service. 

When all were seated, the housekeeper with 
Laura’s help brought rolls and coffee, and 
Miss Evertz announced to the assembled 
household : 

“This is our new girl, Jean Spencer. She 
comes, as you know, from far America, a 
great country and a land of fine deeds and 
promise. Many of our German people go 
there and make homes which they love. One 
may feel exceedingly proud to be of that 
nation, to remember brave acts and wise laws 
which have changed a wilderness into a 
splendid garden, with blossoms and with 
fruit. You will all be kind that Jean may 
soon grow happy here. We will also make 
her strong and sturdy, and her face round 
and blooming with red color, that she will 

38 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 


not think how to persuade her uncle to carry 
her away to travel.” 

J ean flushed and gave Aunt Annya a swift 
look, wondering by what magic she had read 
her inmost mind ; but the tall lady only smiled 
and nodded before entering into animated 
conversation with her sister Minni. The 
simple meal was soon over. Then the girls 
gathered about the newcomer in the big 
school-room, those who could speaking their 
welcome in English to her, while Babette and 
Hannchen capered around and made remarks 
that must have been highly amusing to judge 
from the laughter they caused. 

Laura gave a graphic description of the 
midnight arrival, omitting no point of Jean’s 
trip through the room, and her stumbling 
over a chair, and finally concluded by throw- 
ing two arms about the stranger’s neck. 

“And now, American Indian,” she cried, 
1 1 1 will be your best friend. I am the one who 
put chocolates beneath your pillow that you 
should not starve among us. I am a pleasant 

girl. I speak the English like a native 

39 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


‘ ‘ Like a native of this Germany,’ ’ put in a 
mocking voice, but Irenka’s sarcasm caused 
no surprise and Laura did not retaliate. 

“I will show you many things,” she went 
on, “and will lead you up the mountain top 
where you wished to go. If you will but say 

I am the nicest one in Elinore Lawsy- 

mussy! Say you love me the best of all.” 

Before Jean could find a tactful answer 
to these embarrassing words, two eager 
hands had pulled Laura from her and 
another persuasive voice broke in: “Take 
me for friend. I have fizzle-lemonade which 
I will give you and ” 

“Fie, Olga, you are too young.” The 
pretty blonde girl was elbowed away as had 
been her predecessor, and the circle fell into 
indiscriminate clamoring and talking all at 
once. 

“I wish to learn the English from her,” 
insisted Olga. 

“No,” chimed in Laura’s voice. “Was it 
you who laid chocolates beneath her pillow? 

40 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 

Was it you who saved your bonbons and did 
not eat when you had hunger for sweets? 
No!” 

Little Babette had squirmed her way 
through the ring of bigger folk around, and 
now reaching the American’s side she seized 
both her hands and said something in ex- 
cited German which, of course, was unin- 
telligible to Jean. There were willing in- 
terpreters, however, and half a dozen voices 
began to talk again. 

“The baby says she will be your best 
friend ! ’ ’ 

“Babette will speak her English poem!” 

“Listen, Jean, you shall listen to the baby’s 
English!” 

They made room for the tiny girl, who 
swept a low curtsey and began in a high 
singsong key: 

“Chack und Chill went up a pill!” 

“She says it always wrongly,” a quiet 
voice interposed, and Irenka touched the 
child on the shoulder. “She may not recite 


41 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


until she learns it rightly. I have told her 
that before.” She finished in an undertone 
which no one heard except Babette, who fell 
back, silenced, abashed, but not questioning 
the older girl’s authority. Then Irenka ad- 
dressed Jean with the same calm assurance: 

“It will not hurt the feelings to say which 
you wish for your best friend, because it is 
a custom of the school and each girl may do 
the same when she first arrives. Say to them 
that I am your friend. I am the eldest and 
the cleverest here. Say it, and there will 
certainly be no more noise.” 

A hush had fallen over the group and all 
eyes were fixed on Jean. For a moment she 
was half inclined to run away, then she looked 
around the waiting circle and spoke slowly 
and distinctly so that they might understand : 

“You’ve been very nice to me,” she be- 
gan, “and it’s hard to say which one I like 
best. In my country it would be rude to say 
so, even if you knew. Besides, I have a dear, 
dear friend at home, and nobody could ever 
take Polly’s place. I miss her all the time. 

42 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 


But if you really make me choose, I’m going 
to say ” 

There was breathless silence as if momen- 
tous things depended on the decision. Jean’s 
brown eyes travelled from one to another 
expectant face down the line and gleamed 
with laughter as they stopped. 

“I want you / 9 she said. “Oh, I hope the 
rest of yon won’t mind, but I want Laura.” 

The others dropped away immediately, 
giggling among themselves, only Irenka show- 
ing by a curious narrowing of the eyes that 
she was displeased. The owner of the molas- 
ses braids caught Jean in a smothering hug 
and bubbled over with noisy satisfaction: 

“Ach, ach, du lawsy-mussy me!” she cried. 
“I am glad to be the friend. I hoped and I 
gazed hard upon you to make you choose 
me. And I am not jealous about this friend 
who is so far away, this fish you call the 
Shad. The word book says it is a fish. But 
Irenka is very, very angry, for she never 
before has wished to be the friend of any 

43 


, A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


new one. She will scold ns much. Come now 
and I will show yon the customs of the 
school.” 

Up in Parnassus the two girls unpacked 
Jean’s trunk, and put out on the dresser all 
the pretty toilet pieces and the photographs 
in their simple frames, Laura offering her 
unbiased opinion of each object in turn. 
Uncle Jasper was pronounced a heavenly 
good man; Ned’s hair was admired for the 
curl which the owner himself deemed his curse 
in life; the silver brushes were declared fit 
for a queen; but when Laura had stared for 
a moment at the picture of a Japanese-look- 
ing girl, with turned-up nose and an expres- 
sion of blended piquancy and calm, she set 
it down hard on the bureau and pretended 
to tear her abundant yellowy-brown hair: 

“Ach,” she raved in mock tragedy, 4 ‘that 
is the Shadow! I know! I know! I have 
said I was not jealous, but it is not true. 
If I had her here I could — I could — I think 
I could eat her exactly!” 

Jean straightened Polly, patted the picture 

44 


GETTING ACQUAINTED 

tenderly, then threw two arms about her new 
friend. 

4 4 Don’t eat my Shad,” she begged with a 
laugh. 4 4 Don’t eat her, even if you did say 
she was a fish!” 

4 4 Good ! Then you will love me as well as 
you love her, and whatever she would do 
for you, I will also do. Remember ! ’ 9 

They sealed this promise with a hug, and 
Jean brought the two remaining pictures to 
the dresser. The first showed a square house 
with marble porch in front and stately mag- 
nolia trees in the deep yard, and she sighed 
as she set it down. 

4 4 That’s where I used to live,” she said. 
44 I was born there, and there isn’t any house 
in alj the world ^as nice.” 

4 4 Why do you not live there now?” asked 
Molasses-Head. 

4 4 Because my Daddy had to sell the place. 
He lost his money. But if I ever get rich 
the first thing I’ll do will be to buy our old 
home back. I’m poor, and my uncle takes 
care of me. ’ ’ 


45 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“I, too, am poor,” said Laura. “All the 
others in the Villa have much, much money. 
Ach, who is the boy!” 

She seized the second of the pictures and 
looked keenly at it. 

“That’s Paul,” explained Jean, “Polly’s 
twin brother. Hasn’t he nice eyes! We call 
him the Judge because he’s so serious.” 

“How he is stern,” Laura remarked, still 
studying the photograph. “I could like him 
and I could also be afraid. I hear the bell. 
We shall make haste.” And they went down 
to the school-room with arms entwined about 
each other’s waist. 


m 


NEWS OF SECRETS ACROSS THE SEA 

The days sped swiftly by in Villa Elinore, 
and Jean was beginning to catch the mean- 
ing of a German word here and there, and 
even to reply, when she found two letters 
beside her breakfast plate one morning. They 
bore American stamps and had the very 
natural effect of diverting her mind from 
Aunt Annya’s prayer. With unusual effort 
she kept still until the reading was finished 
and the girls all seated, then she seized her 
treasures and blurted out without preface or 
apology: 

* ‘I’m not hungry, Aunt Annya; I don’t 
feel a bit like eating. So I’ll just go and 
read what Uncle Jasper says.” 

Those who understood her words looked 
their amazement at this unheard-of frank- 
ness. Babette giggled and took the oppor- 
tunity to nip off a good bit of extra butter 

47 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


from the plate nearest hers. The eldest 
Fraulein Evertz, after a glance toward her 
sister Minni, spoke with cold precision: 

“One may not jump this way and that ac- 
cording to one’s fancy. There are settled 
rules in life which must he observed. Take 
your place, my Jean, and leave your letters 
until later. It is for discipline.” 

Jean managed to discipline her legs suffi- 
ciently to bend them and take her seat, but 
her tongue was a much more unruly member 
and it slipped from her control. 

“If you were as homesick as I am,” she 
grumbled, “and didn’t know why your 
uncle got left behind, you wouldn’t talk like 
that! I’ll stay here if you say I must, but 
I can ’t eat a bite when I feel so quivery ! ’ ’ 
This brought no response, and while Aunt 
Annya talked to each of her docile pupils in 
turn the refractory one sat twirling the let- 
ters between her fingers, too impatient to 
eat even if she could have done so after say- 
ing she wouldn’t. The meal seemed a long, 
long function, but it was over at last; and 

48 


NEWS OF SECRETS ACROSS THE SEA 


avoiding Irenka ’s eye for fear of further in- 
terference, Jean ran off to snuggle up beside 
the porcelain stove and devour a far more 
delectable treat than bread and butter. 

Uncle Jasper had written briefly that since 
be knew by cable of bis niece ’s safe arrival 
be bad changed bis plans somewhat, and it 
might be several weeks yet before be sailed ; 
but the postscript was read through many 
times, and caused Jean’s eyes to blur while 
her mind tingled with new curiosity. 

“Rosebud,” it ran, “I ought to explain 
perhaps that the business which keeps me 
here now relates to you. I did not intend to 
have you go over alone. That was an accident 
over which I had no control, hut since it hap- 
pened so I am attending to something which 
your guardian would otherwise have done. 
I shall not tell you in detail, except that you 
will he pleased. So try to wait patiently, 
grow strong like the German girls, and think 
often of 

“Your Uncle Jasper.” 


4 


49 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“As if it needed secrets to make me do 
that,” she said, as she kissed the fine spidery 
writing, and took up the second envelope. 
The first words from Polly made her eyes 
fill again, for Jean was hungry for affection, 
and got it from all her friends. She was 
one of those persons who have as many pet 
names as they have associates, and Shadow 
had begun: 

“My darlingest, precious Jinks: There are 
so many things to tell, — about me and about 
your own affairs. That is — I can’t write 
about yours because it is as great a secret as 
the answers to Miss Randall’s problems in 
geometry! Such a beautiful secret, Jinks! 
Mr. Rose didn’t want anyone to know, but 
that wise blundering twin of mine heard it 
at father’s office when he shouldn’t have been 
listening, and for a wonder let it out to me. 
Oh, I wish you would finish your education 
and come home! You know your own old 
home on Shelby Street? I went past there 
on purpose, and it looks so sad with its eyes 

50 


NEWS OF SECRETS ACROSS THE SEA 

shut — the blinds all down, I mean. It would 
pop them open in a hurry if it knew what I 
do ! Goodness, I better tell you about other 
things. Judge Paul is not going to be a 
lawyer after all! He says it’s too slow and 
he wants to be a man as soon as possible and 
independent. So he’s taking up the cotton 
business, and you ought to hear him tell us 
about the length of fibre and staple and those 
thrilling details. Please don’t mind if I say 
I think it is splendid of Ned to stay right 
in his own country. It is un-American to be 
studying abroad. So hurry up and learn all 
the ‘furrin’ languages you need and come 
home to 

“Your devoted and lonely Shadow.” 

This communication also carried a post- 
script and Jean laughed shakily as she read: 

“I wduld love to be with you over there 
though, and the only comfort I have is what 
you wrote about frosted ears and being 
bossed about by Russians. How can you 

51 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


stand that part! You were always so kind 
of high-mighty yourself, and did the bossing 
if anybody did. Why don’t you remind that 
Renka-girl that the Czar of her country is a 
wicked man who does not compare very well 
with rulers of other Christian nations, and 
just completely wither her! I would. P. M.” 

The thought of gentle Polly withering 
Irenka was so preposterous and so funny 
that Jean laughed to herself; then, with a 
characteristic leap from one emotion to 
another, she realized all at once that she had 
been rude to Fraulein Annya. Repentance 
with her. was synonymous with confession; 
so next moment the old lady saw a blond 
head appear beside the desk where she sat 
writing and heard an eager voice exclaim: 

“I’m sorry I wouldn’t eat, and I beg your 
pardon if I was impolite, and Uncle Jasper 
sends you his regards.” 

Aunt Annya looked down at her papers, 
outlining mentally the words of her rebuke 


52 


NEWS OF SECRETS ACROSS THE SEA 


and a following forgiveness ; but she pushed 
into the pigeon-hole an American letter with 
the same spidery writing Jean had been read- 
ing, and when she looked up both sermon 
and forgiveness were softened. 

“Jean,” she said, holding out a hand which 
the girl clasped and cuddled to her breast; 
as Aunt Annya’s hand had not been cuddled 
since baby days of long ago, “Jean, prom- 
ise me, my child, that you will curb your 
temper; for your own sake, for those who 
love you.” 

“I never thought of its being temper,” 
observed Jean, inclined to debate the matter. 
But Fraulein Evertz sighed a little as she 
drew her hand away. She was accustomed 
to pupils who came to the Pension already 
moulded to obedience and self-control and 
this impetuous girl, with her free speech and 
her lovable nature was a puzzle in more ways 
than one. 

“Promise me you will stop and think be- 
fore you act,” she said. 

53 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“I will, Aunt Annya, I promise you I will,” 
the girl cried easily, and at the time it seemed 
a simple proposition. 

“I too have a letter from Mr. Rose, ,, Frau- 
lein Annya went on after a momenta hesita- 
tion. “He sets great hopes and ambitions 
on you. And — and — is your uncle strong and 
robust, my dear? Is he always well?” 

“Of course,” began Jean with a little 
laugh ; then something in the question fright- 
ened her, and she grew white. “He’s not — 
He hasn’t written you he is — sick?” she 
asked. 

“No, he doesn’t say he’s ill,” the old lady 
sought to calm her. “He takes great care to 
say he’s well. You may go now, and I hope 
you will try your best to please him.” 

It is doubtful whether in those days she 
learned as much German as her mates did 
English, for some things are absorbed faster 
out of school than in, and the girls, flocking 
about this new comrade, took fascinated in- 
terest in every word she spoke and every 
movement that she made. They proved to be 


54 


NEWS OF SECRETS ACROSS THE SEA 


a happy band, with the primmest of bashful 
mien before their elders, and the most irre- 
pressible spirits when alone, chattering 
openly of each other’s faults and virtues, 
giving lavish praise where praise was due, 
and equally frank with blame on opposite 
occasions. 

Irenka, slightly disturbed about her place 
as leader, drew her cousin Olga under her 
wing and kept the school beauty from the 
new influence; but all the others welcomed 
Jean, and the place where she studied or the 
corner where she worked at her Irish cro- 
chet was apt to be the merriest in the room. 
She told the funniest tales of her colored 
Mammy, of Shadow, Paul Martin the sober 
Judge, and of her various nicknames until 
she became Shinksy and Chinksy according 
to the different enunciations of her new 
friends. 

Laura Luther drank in fresh words as if 
she had been a particularly thirsty piece of 
blotting paper, and gave them out again with 
a parrot’s glibness, which was very pleas- 
55 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


ing to her teachers until one day in the Eng- 
lish master’s class she said: 

“Lawsy-mussy, Mr. Davis, honey, I reckon 
it’s a noun!” 

This caused her to be banished from Jean’s 
company for a half-holiday and two long 
evenings at home, but even such dire punish- 
ment failed to check her desire for pictur- 
esque English, and the Fraulein Evertz were 
near desperation on the subject. They had 
special reasons for wishing Laura to do well 
in school, reasons which Molasses-Head her- 
self knew but did not always heed. 

The newcomer soon discovered that Hann- 
chen was dull in intellect and that the others 
were inclined to laugh at her blunders as well 
as to take advantage of her good nature. The 
black eyes followed Jean about with a devo- 
tion that would have been amusing if it had 
not been so much more pathetic; and it was 
those eyes and their owner which caused Jean 
to forget her promise to Aunt Annya. 


IV 


JEAN RAISES A STORM AND FINDS SHELTER IN A 
FAIRY ATTIC 

Hannchen was troubled for a means of 
expressing the affection she felt toward her 
idol, since they knew no common language, 
and whether it was the week for English or 
the week for German there could be no com- 
munication. At length with an unusually 
brilliant idea, she traded her birthday bangle 
to Olga for a dozen notes, which from time to 
time she laid before Jean, never guessing that 
the sentiments she offered as adoration really 
read like this : 

“I, Hannchen, am the stupid one.” 

1 1 Germany and Amerika is not so nicely as 
Russia!” 

“In Amerika live Indians and other wild 
ones. Amerika girls are wild!” 

Jean puzzled over these messages for some 
time without taking them seriously or coming 
to any solution about their meaning. In after- 
57 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


noon study hour one day Hannchen, feigning 
the excuse of examining a map upon the wall, 
brushed close to Jean and dropped into her 
lap a hit of chocolate wrapped in paper. She 
got a mechanical smile in thanks, for truth to 
tell Jean’s mind had strayed, as it often did, 
to Uncle Jasper and his mysterious hint 
about the business that was detaining him. 
She slipped the gift into her pocket though, 
and as she did so her eyes fell upon the writ- 
ten words it held. At first these made no 
impression, then she looked more closely, and 
touching her neighbor’s arm she called 
Laura’s attention. 

Molasses-Head frowned, then nodded in the 
direction of Olga who was watching furtively 
from behind her outspread notebook. Still 
Jean failed to comprehend, and the riddle 
piqued her more and more. She glanced 
toward the white-haired figure at the farther 
end of the room, but Aunt Minni spoke little 
English and there was no hope of being en- 
lightened there. She turned again to Laura. 

“Read it,” she whispered, passing the 

58 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


sticky slip of paper over. ‘ 4 Read it, and tell 
me what under the sun it means. ’ ’ 

“ Under the sun?” echoed Laura, as she 
was apt to echo every new phrase which came 
her way. “What is this under the sun? I 
shall say him to Mr. Davis.” 

“Read the paper, goosie,” Jean com- 
manded. “Read the paper.” 

Laura accordingly spelled out with some 
difficulty the neat writing: “Jean’s uncle is 
a bricklayer. Strike the writer if you are 
angry.” 

“What is it?” Jean insisted, and for an- 
swer her lieutenant rose and beckoned her 
to follow. Aunt Minni was deeply engaged 
with the correction of French essays, so the 
two slipped unnoticed into the hall and the 
interpreter collapsed into a chair, weak with 
laughter that had to be suppressed. 

“What does it mean? What does it mean ? 
What does it mean?” With each repetition 
Jean shook her to bring the explanation 
sooner. 

“Don’t,” begged Laura. “Don’t pull me 

59 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


into little bits. I am telling you already. 
Hannchen did give her bracelet to Olga, and 
in return she get these so lovely letters. 
Little love notes the foolish Hannchen believe 
them to be, which shall delight you very 
much. But Olga has play a joke. She means 
an insult to you. She means that you have 
for uncle a layer of the bricks upon the 
street, like a laborer who cannot read and is 
not a gentleman. This Olga means. She will 
have you to think Hannchen wrote it and 
therefore she puts also on that you shall 
strike a blow upon the writer . 9 7 

“How silly !” said Jean contemptuously. 
“What a lot of fuss over nothing at all!” 

“It is to make funny that Irenka will 
laugh at you and at Hannchen. They be- 
lieve you will be angry and will strike Hann- 
chen on the cheek exactly.” 

Jean’s brow had wrinkled suddenly with 
a new idea. Now she gripped her com- 
panion’s arm. 

“Is that where all those notes came from?” 


60 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


she asked. “ Would anybody fool a poor little 
thing like Hannchen so! Why, she isn’t 
bright! She can’t stand np for herself! All 
those things she gave me; about America — 
spelled with a k too, if you please, if those 
Russians do think they’re so awfully smart! 
Olga took her bracelet and wore it right be- 
fore her face. I saw Hannchen sniffling when 
she did it, and I wondered why!” 

This tirade had flowed too rapidly for 
Laura to follow, but she understood that Jean 
was growing angry, and good-naturedly she 
tried to placate her. 

“It is to laugh, meine Liebe,” she said. 
“It is not to turn down the mouth and to be 
sad. Laugh and say lawsy-mussy-me. ” 

“If you don’t stop using that expression,” 
warned Jean, “you will have something to 
look sad about yourself. Don’t blame poor 
little me when the Aunts take your head off. 
Did Olga write all those notes!” 

Laura nodded. “Do not let them know 
you care,” she counselled. “We will be very 
61 


A DIXIE HOSE IN BLOOM 


quiet. We will smile quite a much. Then 
we go to Aunt Annya and tell. The Russians 
will be punished.” 

“Pooh,” said Jean. “They’d find some 
way to wriggle out. A girl that can think 
up such a roundabout plot to get at me — why 
don’t they act right out mad if they feel that 
way? But to hit at Hannchen!” 

4 ‘ Olga is not mad, ’ ’ Laura declared. ‘ ‘ She 
talks with me. Olga could love you, only she 
must do what Irenka say. And Irenka maybe 
could love you, but you will not have it.” 

“Funny kind of love,” said Jean, turning 
toward the school-room once more. If Laura 
had let her go back to her lessons the storm 
might yet have been averted ; but something 
moved Molasses-Head to exact a promise, 
and at that moment opposition was the one 
thing needed to precipitate the tempest. 

“Shinksy,” the German begged, “do not 
think of it. Take back this paper. Tear it 
up, and let it go.” 

Jean glanced at the delicately penned 
words once more, and without warning her 

62 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


anger boiled up and over the danger mark. 
Uncle Jasper a bricklayer! These insolent 
girls were daring to laugh at Uncle Jasper! 
They were hard and cruel to Hannchen, and 
now — this was the last straw ! Next moment 
a very whirlwind of blue serge and embroid- 
ered apron, fair hair and scornful eyes had 
swept into the room. Aunt Minni looked up 
and rose to come forward, realizing from 
Jean’s face that something was about to hap- 
pen, but she was too late. Crossing the floor 
without a glance to right or left, Jean reached 
Olga’s side, and with her outspread fingers 
slapped the Russian’s cheek! The room was 
as still as if unoccupied, instead of holding a 
dozen breathless and astonished witnesses to 
this act of violence. Olga sprang to her feet, 
but it was J ean who spoke : 

“You wrote those silly papers!” she cried. 
“You cheated Hannchen out of her bracelet 
to pay for them! You said for me to strike 
the writer, and so I’ve done it!” 

Aunt Minni reached her and taking her 
arm in a determined grasp began to draw 

63 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


this unruly person toward upstairs and jus- 
tice, but Irenka dropped a Knix and with a 
few rapid words caused Fraulein Evertz to 
pause. Meanwhile Olga whipped from some 
pocket the bracelet which had been the fruit 
of her joke, laid it with a flourish before its 
rightful owner, and faced Jean. 

“You do not understand our people/ ’ she 
said proudly. “We make fun that we may 
laugh. I would not keep the bangle. It is 
not of value. I have many precious jewels of 
my own much finer.’ ’ 

Irenka stepped between the two and laying 
a hand on her cousin’s arm addressed her- 
self to Jean: “You are a va-ry little rightly 
and a great deal wrongly. It is the Aunts 
who judge and punish here. Next to them 
come I. Aunt Minni tell me to speak now. 
You shall apologize to Olga for the blow; 
the Aunts will attend to the fault which she 
has done. That is not for you.” 

Jean shook her curly head, her eyes flash- 
ing fire even through their tears. “I’ll never 
apologize,” she announced. “It was not my 

64 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


fault. She said to strike the writer and I 
did. Besides ” 

“Besides ” the other waited with an 

air of judicial wisdom that irritated Jean 
beyond endurance. 

“You needn’t think you’re the judge,” she 
cried. ‘ ‘ She called my Uncle J asper a brick- 
layer! It isn’t true! Oh, isn’t there any- 
body that can understand? He isn’t! He 
isn’t a bricklayer!” 

Irenka opened her eyes in surprise that 
was genuine. “But you have told that your 
uncle was a Mason,” she said. “We have 
therefore searched the work book and we find 
that a Mason is a layer of the brick. My 
cousin speak the truth.” 

Once more she waited, but Jean’s patience 
was spent. At another time the comical mis- 
take would have appealed to her sense of 
humor, and she not only would have explained 
about the Masonic Order, but would have 
laughed at the picture of dear little Uncle 
Jasper with a hod upon his back. Now, how- 
ever, she felt no desire to be smoothed down. 


5 


65 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Poor Hannchen was crying, not knowing how 
she had brought disaster to her beloved, yet 
feeling sure that she was to blame, and a 
glance at the thin figure, bent over on the 
table, shaken with sobs, scattered the last 
vestige of Jean’s self-control. 

4 ‘I won’t say I’m sorry,” she repeated, 
4 4 because I ’m not, except for Hannchen. Olga 
deserved the slap and I wish it had been 
harder. You think you’re smart, Renka, be- 
cause you’re Russian.” 

4 4 How she is mad!” ejaculated Laura, try- 
ing to stop her friend as she turned to the 
door. 

Jean avoided the outstretched hand, 
dodged past Aunt Minni, humped into 
Babette and sent her spinning along the well- 
waxed floor, and fled up the stairs to lock 
herself inside Parnassus. She lay down on 
the plumeau, finding a slight joy in the 
memory that it was forbidden to touch the 
bed by day, and burrowed a place recklessly 
into its feathers. She felt that she was a 
lone, lorn American in the midst of aliens. 


66 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


There was not a single creature in all Ger- 
many, she thought, who was kind and gentle 
and polite ! She remembered once when even 
Laura had joined in the laugh at Hannchen! 
Oh, if Mr. Martin had only been rich enough 
to send Shadow with her, how happy they 
could bel 

For a time she cried, as if by quantity of 
tears she might float herself back to Polly’s 
sympathetic company; but presently she got 
up and went to look out of the window at the 
mountain which had pleased her so on the 
morning after her arrival. There had been 
a heavy fall of snow, and a group of little 
boys, — reminding her of robins, in their 
brown clothes touched here and there with 
red, — ran up and down, drawing their sleds 
behind them and shouting to each other. The 
tears dried on Jean’s cheeks as she watched. 
Next minute she had taken a box of candy 
from her table, and pushing the window open, 
climbed cautiously to the balcony. 

“Hi!” she called. “Hi, down there! Want 
something nice to eat? Want some Shocko- 
67 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


lada? Shockolada! Goot! Sehr goot! Now 
catch !” 

If the language was not quite clear, the 
shower of candy at any rate was unmistak- 
able, and there was a merry scrambling on 
the icy yard below. Jean leaned over the 
railing, intent on the boys and their antics, 
and all oblivious to the fact that a window 
just above her own had opened and that two 
keen eyes were gazing at her. 

“Hi, there!” she called again. “Wait for 
me ! Pm coming down ! ’ 9 

“Danke! Danke, mein Fraulein!” the 
thanks were echoed and re-echoed many 
times, until the sweets had all been gathered 
up and tucked away in mouths and pockets, 
and the lads returned to their coasting while 
the Lady Bountiful hurried back inside the 
room. 

She was in the very act of slipping a 
sweater over her head, her mind made up to 
steal out and join these new friends, when 
there fell upon her ears a strain of music 
that made her draw in her breath and listen. 


68 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


It came from overhead and sounded like a 
piano, but softer and finer than any piano 
she had ever heard. 

At first it was rather sad, then quickening 
all at once it seemed to set the very trees to 
keeping time with their thin old arms, and 
Jean’s feet, responding gaily to this magic 
call, began to dance her toward the door, 
down the hall and up a flight of steps she had 
never mounted until now. What was that 
tune, she wondered; then she knew. It was 
a medley of American airs, the tunes to which 
her heart had thrilled so many, many times 
at home! My Country ’Tis of Thee gave 
way to the Star Spangled Banner; then as 
she reached the hall above her own floor she 
gave an extra and involuntary skip. For 
the piano was playing Dixie ! 

Following the sound she ran along the cor- 
ridor, never pausing until she came to a door 
which stood hospitably open and displayed 
a scene that made her stare again. Opposite 
the door was the piano, and before the in- 
strument sat a lady with a head of snowy 
69 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


hair and a short, plump back, giving a con- 
cert for the apparent pleasure of herself, five 
birds and a large, gray cat, as no other audi- 
ence was in sight. 

Through a wide window the sunshine 
streamed in a golden flood, falling on a 
polished floor covered with white fur rugs, 
on easy chairs, and on a couch piled with 
crimson pillows. All the walls were hung with 
pictures, every corner held growing plants, 
while the green love birds and yellow canaries 
gave the final touch of color which made the 
room a fairy palace — in two hungry and 
homesick eyes at least. Jean stood hesitating 
on the doorsill when the lady turned and 
saw her. Then the intruder blushed and 
stammered : 

‘ ‘ Please excuse me. It was very rude, I 
reckon, to peep in, but I got lonely down 
there in Parnassus, and the music was so 
lovely.” 

The lady came forward and took her by 
the hand. “You are Jean,” she said in per- 
fect English. “Our little new Jean, and I 

70 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


am the third sister, Aunt Lotti. When my 
music brings me a guest I am happy. I in- 
vite, and if the listener understands, she 
comes.” 

She drew Jean into the room, motioned to 
a seat upon the couch, and took a place be- 
side her; but at the entreaty : “Please don’t 
stop! Please play like that again!” she 
answered : 

“Another time. Another time you shall 
hear much music. Now there are so many 
things to say. I have waited for you to come 
and find my fairy attic.” 

“Did you play on purpose!” The ques- 
tion was rather timid, for it was not always 
clear in this funny country what youth might 
say to age without showing disrespect. It 
was plain, however, that this was entirely 
proper, for Aunt Lotti smiled. 

“I gave invitation,” she said, “knowing 
that if the new girl had ears and love of 
native land she would come. I am glad to 
find she has those necessary things.” 

“Not as glad as I am, thank you,” and 
71 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Jean leaned back against the cushions, hardly 
yet able to believe she was in the land where 
rocking chairs are unknown and a rigid back- 
bone the highest type of beauty womankind 
can reach. Aunt Lotti did not reprove her, 
but sat for a moment watching the hair curl- 
ing on Jean’s forehead before she said: 

“You have wondered where the third Aunt 
was, and I have been guessing things about 
the girl who comes from across the sea. 
Whether she is gay or sad, brave or timid, 
sweet or with a nature that is cold.” 

There was a little stop and Jean would 
have spoken, but the old lady motioned her 
to wait. 

“I will talk first,” she said, smiling at her 
to soften the reminder that age has prec- 
edence. “So then, I am an invalid. Not a nice, 
pale invalid who does good by simply looking 
saintly. No, alas. I am stout and I feel dis- 
contented sometimes with my lot. I wish to 
travel. To go to America and learn how the 
people live there. I wish to do great things, 
which women may not do, and sick women 
72 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


should not even read about. I am a headache 
invalid. ’ 9 

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Jean, her sym- 
pathies touched at once by this interesting 
catalogue of suffering. The plump lady 
patted her hand. 

“Yes,” she said. “I lie for days and days 
in the dark there, through that door which 
shuts off the noise of the outside world. 
When I am well again I go down to dinner 
and see the sun and make my music. I am 
happy then, and yet — I give you my con- 
fidence — these are not the things I really 
long to do.” 

“What kind of things would you like to 
do?” ventured Jean, taking courage from 
Aunt Lotti’s expression. The old lady made 
a lively gesture with her two hands. 

“Build an air- ship that sailed faster than 
any other,” she said. “Be a great physician 
and make more people well than you could 
count. Big, big, big things I would do. But 
I have compensations. Like this: I hate to 
be a headache creature and lie in a dark 


73 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


room. Match against that that I have my 
books, I have my music, I have my birds, and 
my cat. Do you know Hans, my cat?” 

“He rubbed up against me the night I 
came,” Jean answered. “I thought he was 
saying howdy-do. I love cats. ’ ’ 

“And you love also dogs,” suggested Aunt 
Lotti, her eyes full of twinkling mischief, 
“and you love little babies and street boys, 
even if they are not clean, and you have also 
fondness for making friends with the cook in 
the kitchen and the maid who spreads your 
bed.” 

“How do you know?” Jean gasped. “Who 
has been telling you about me, Miss ” 

“Aunt Lotti, please.” 

“Who’s been talking about me, Aunt 
Lotti?” 

“I have ears that hear all through the 
house, and eyes that see from the window 
into the street,” was the enigmatic reply. 

Jean reddened a little and wondered about 
her recent generosity to the boys below. The 
old lady’s eyes still twinkled. 

74 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


“And you rusli into battle for the one 
that’s under,” she said. 

“Now you mean Hannchen,” cried Jean. 
“Well, it’s awful the way they treat her. 
We would never do that where I came from. 
And they’re all foreigners anyhow and ” 

Then Aunt Lotti said something which 
made her companion stretch her brown eyes 
in amazement. 

“Lawsy-mussy !” said Aunt Lotti sol- 
emnly, ‘ ‘ Lawsy-mussy-me ! ’ ’ 

For a moment Jean hardly knew whether 
to answer this or not, but the other went on 
using her hands in a funny gesture: “Here 
is a girl from the other side of the world 
calling our Laura and our Babette foreigners, 
when the innocent children are living in their 
own native land ! ’ ’ 

The culprit was convicted and had no word 
to say in her defense. Fraulein Lotti saw 
this in the expressive face and added : 

“You have a heart, my child, a heart; 
when you have learned to use it properly, 
not clumsily as now, you will be happier.” 


75 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“What a funny thing to say!” Jean burst 
forth. “How was I clumsy? What do you 
mean?” 

“It was more than clumsy, it was stupid 
when you slapped poor Olga. If your mind 
had worked you would not have done it. Now 
we talk no more of that. Read to me, please, 
in your own tongue. * f 

She pointed to some low shelves in a cor- 
ner, and Jean, reluctantly swallowing the 
bitter reproof, knelt down and ran her hands 
across the volumes. There were all her Eng- 
lish and American poets, and taking a book 
at random she returned to the couch to read 
aloud, while Hans purred nearby and Frau- 
lein Lotti listened. An hour had passed be- 
fore the latter interrupted : 

“Enough, enough, and thank you a hundred 
times, dear Jean.” 

Jean replaced the book and stood hesitat- 
ing as to what she ought to say. But it was 
Aunt Lotti who broke the silence. 

“You shall come again whenever the piano 
calls you.” 


76 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


4 4 Thank you very much, ’ ’ said J ean. ‘ ‘ How 
shall I be sure it's calling me?” 

1 ‘ Well asked,” replied Aunt Lotti, “very 
well asked, indeed. When the piano plays 
American music you shall know it calls the 
American girl and no other.” 

“Oh, how splendid! I hope it plays Dixie 

always and ” She checked herself and 

her bright face clouded as an unwelcome 
thought crossed her mind. Suppose the 
piano played Russian music! The idea of 
sharing this fairy attic with Irenka and her 
cousin made her sick. Aunt Lotti had more 
to say, however. 

“You read well, my dear,” she told her. 
“Your voice is good and your sympathies are 
rich and well developed. There are many 
exquisite poems written in the English lan- 
guage. But one thing you should remember. 
Did your Emerson talk like the very igno- 
rant? Did your Lanier — ah, I know them all 
— did he say lawsy-mussy or I reckon? No, 
no, what an ugly sound is that!” 

“I use those words just for fun,” laughed 
77 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Jean, “to hear how they sound when Lanra 
says them, or Babette. Don’t yon see, Annt 
Lotti?” 

This was the trap which the old lady had 
set for her. “I see well,” she acquiesced, 
“but is that really so funny? Olga finds it 
a jest to tease Hannchen and you do not see 
the joke. Therefore you punish Olga with 
the rudeness of a boy. Then ” 

“Oh!” the exclamation had a rueful em- 
phasis. “Aunt Annya told me I was bad- 
tempered! Now I’m worse than that; I’m 
rude!” 

“You think it a clever amusement to teach 
Laura wrong and I cannot see where the 
jest lies. Can it be that I am blind?” 

“No, oh no,” Jean answered, her discom- 
fiture growing. “I never thought! I never 
thought!” 

“The heart is clumsy when the mind’s 
asleep,” Aunt Lotti said; then she leaned 
over and kissed the girl’s forehead. “It is 
the best thing in all the world to have a heart, 
78 


JEAN RAISES A STORM 


dear child,” she added. 4 4 Learn to master it. 
Learn to make yonr heart work under orders 
of yonr brain.” 

And with this injunction to puzzle over 
Jean ran away, unconscious of the discussion 
taking place in the invalid’s pretty room a 
little later. 

“Well, Lottchen,” Fraulein Annya began, 
looking tenderly into her sister’s face which 
showed signs of fatigue; “what can we make 
of this American?” 

Aunt Lotti gave a little twist to her 
shoulders that meant obstinacy. “If her 
uncle is wise,” she said, “he will take her 
home as fast as the steamer can go. She 
wastes time here.” 

4 4 Pfui ! ’ ’ cried Aunt Annya. 4 4 1 have built 
great plans. Jean has an unusual mind. She 
will be an honor to us. Irenka leaves at 
Easter, and I think to make the American 
head girl and to develop her into a splendid 
woman. ’ ’ 

4 4 1 believe in keeping to one ’s native coun- 


79 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


try until the character is formed, ’ ’ persisted 
the invalid; “I shall scold Mr. Rose and tell 
him this.” 

“Now, Lotti, ” the elder sister rallied 

her arguments, and the battle of debate was 
on. 

Meanwhile Jean had found the girls in the 
lower hall, bundled up in readiness for their 
daily walk. Slipping up behind Olga she 
threw two arms about the little Russian, 
turned her around and planted a kiss on the 
spot where her blow had fallen. 

“Please forgive me,” she said. “I’m 
sorry. Honestly I’m sorry.” 

Olga’s quick smile granted the pardon be- 
yond a doubt, but before the actual words 
could be spoken Irenka came along the hall, 
giving orders and making comments to each 
one. The smile died from Olga’s lips, and she 
waited apprehensively until her cousin said: 

“The French bonne will take five girls to 
the castle. Jean is to go with Aunt Annya to 
drink coffee at a friend’s house. Olga, you 
shall come with me.” 


80 


Y 


JEAN ADDS FUEL TO IRENKA’S WRATH 

The English class was assembled in the 
school-room half an hour ahead of time, and 
it being the day when essays were read, there 
was a murmur of frenzied question and un- 
satisfactory answer as the last touches were 
put upon the note-books. One laggard had 
brought a dictionary and was deep in its 
pages, hunting words for her final para- 
graph; Irenka and Olga had been excused 
that they might put more time upon their 
French ; Laura alone was ready and burning 
with desire to show off her work, so Jean, 
who sat through the lesson for the purpose of 
hearing the tutor’s good enunciation, raised 
her eyes from “Lorna Doone,” and said: 

“Stop pinching me and read it, for pity’s 
sake. You won’t be happy until you do, and 
then I can read in peace, I reckon.” 

Molasses-Head jumped to her feet, but her 


6 


81 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


friend, realizing that she had used the for- 
bidden “I reckon,” pushed her back into 
place, and with shut eyes began repeating 
like a charm a list of synonyms which Aunt 
Lotti had prescribed for such occasions. As 
she went through this routine some twenty 
times a day, it caused no surprise among her 
mates. 

“I won’t say reckon,” she declared. “I'll 
say suppose, surmise, suspect, divine, be- 
lieve, dare say, and wis ! Believe, dare 
say, and wis, wis, wis! There now, Laura, 
go on and read.” 

Laura sprang up again and again was 
interrupted. “If I did know the word 

for big, big waters ” wailed Hedwig 

imploringly. 

“Ocean. Be hushed!” And Molasses- 
Head, trying to command the audience, bowed 
right and left before beginning: 

“I have written of the American Home,” 
she announced dramatically. “I have heard 
much of that from Shinksy. As I see the 
American Home in the picture of my mind it 
82 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


looks like thus: ‘On the high bank of the 
river Mississippi, which do run coffee brown 
between its soothing shores ’ ” 

“Wait, wait,” Jean interrupted. “It’s all 
wrong, goosie. Soothing shores ! What kind 
of shores are those?” 

“I learn it in the word book,” retorted 
Laura, entirely unabashed, “even as you 
learn your dare say and wis. Soothing — 
gentle — placid — calm! Be hushed! I begin 
once more. ‘On the high bank of that river 
Mississippi, which do run coffee brown be- 
tween its soothing shores, there stands an 
ancient tower covered with old green envy, 
which * ” 

“Oh!” groaned Jean. “Oh, how you 
murder the English tongue ! Ivy, ivy, ivy — 
not old green envy!” 

“All the same, it is all the same,” said 
Laura coolly. “So much they sound alike 
that Mr. Davis will not know the one from 
other. He likes me because I am a pleasant 
girl. I do not ever frown. Listen now.” 

“ I shan ’t listen, ’ 9 J ean insisted ; “ I shan ’t 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


let you read such stuff as that. I’m going 
to correct it. Give it to me. We’ll have 
time.” 

“No, meine Liebe,” the essay writer was 
quite contented with her work as it came 
from her own mind. But J ean had captured 
the note-book, and was already crossing out 
words and making changes, so Molasses- 
Head gave in gracefully, which is the very 
best way to do when giving in becomes a ne- 
cessity. The treatise on the American Home 
was scarcely remodelled when Mr. Davis 
arrived and the lesson began in earnest. 

This was the last lesson of the Wednesday, 
and after it came the walk along the Neckar, 
and then the good, substantial dinner to 
which a dozen glowing girls always did jus- 
tice. To-day Jean hurried, and before the 
cuckoo had chimed the hour of three she 
hustled into the biggest, warmest school- 
room, dragging behind her yards and yards 
of bright-hued calico, and followed by a pro- 
cession of satellites. . First there . was Laura, 
with an armful of papers of all colors, then 

84 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


Hannchen bearing aloft a tremendous paste- 
board shield, and Babette prancing in the 
rear to carry scissors, thread and glue-pot. 

c 1 Spread yourselyes over all the chairs,” 
the leader gave instructions in her own 
tongue and Laura translated into rapid and 
vehement German. “ Cover up every inch with 
our stuff so nobody else can push their tire- 
some old costumes in. We got this place first 
and I don’t see why we shouldn’t keep it.” 

They suited the action to the word, turn- 
ing the room into a jumble of genuine 
American red, white and blue; then Jean 
looked around and added: “ Isn’t it fine to 
have a real masquerade? I’m so glad I’m 
going to be Columbia. Oh, I wish Shad 
could be here. You would love Shad, I know. 
Do we have a party every month?” 

“I do not love the one you call the Shad,” 
said Laura, screwing up her mouth. “I am 
jealous.” 

“Do we have a masquerade every month?” 
repeated Jean. 

“To dress up in mask — every month!” 


85 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


said Laura. 4 ‘No, meine Liebe, how you are 
comical and greedy! Just once in a year, 
before the what-do-you-call-it commences . 9 9 

“What’s the what-do-you-call-it ? 9 9 Jean 
demanded. 

“The you-know-what,” explained Molas- 
ses-Head without a smile. 

“And what’s the you-know-what, if you 
don’t mind telling?” 

The other made a gesture of despair. “I 
cannot hope to say him in English. He 
comes before the forty days when one goes 
often in the Church.” 

“Lent, that’s Lent,” Jean mumbled, her 
mouth full of pins; but a cry from Hann- 
chen interrupted. That devoted follower 
was clinging dutifully to the shield, and all 
Laura’s coaxing and threats failed to take it 
from her. After a torrent of protest the 
latter made appeal to headquarters: 

“Say something at her, Shinksy. Say 
something terrible. She hears no one, only 
you.” 

Jean took the pasteboard from Hannchen 


86 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


and pushed the girl gently into a chair. 
“Sitzen, child, sitzen,” she commanded. 
4 ‘Tell her I say sitzen, Laura, and make her 
understand I mean to sit down and be easy. 
I think it’s sweet of her to help me with my 
dress when Olga offered her a whole cake 
of chocolate to cut rose petals. Isn’t it lucky 
it’s a half-holiday? I only hope they won’t 
fix up some way between them to take her 
yet. I’m going to give her a cunning little 
pattern and tell her to cut out millions and 
millions of stars to sew all over my mantle.” 

“If you give to her a pattern and say to 
her she shall cut,” objected Laura, “she will 
cut and cut and cut, and none can stop her. 
Therefore I shall hide away the things to 
make my costume.” 

“You better ask her first if she wants to 
cut,” laughed Jean. “Maybe she doesn’t 
mean to help at all.” 

The lieutenant asked and Hannchen gave 
an answer which, being interpreted, signified 
that she would rather cut out stars for Jean 
than eat all the chocolate in the Haupstrasso 
87 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


cake-house, and that she would cut as long 
as there was material in sight; so they fell 
to work. Jean herself took the delicate task 
of pasting stripes upon the shield, while 
Babette held a box to catch the stars that fell 
from Hannchen’s shears and passed them on 
for Laura to sew to the gorgeous mantle. 
The forty fingers fairly flew, for there was 
a bandit’s hat to be finished later, as well as 
Hannchen’s whole costume; and the tongues, 
not to be outdone by mere fingers, went just 
as fast, mixing two languages into a mush 
that was neither one speech nor the other. 

Olga and Hedwig came in once and the 
Russian left her tarlatan on a chair, but their 
faces fell when they saw the place filled 
up and they soon disappeared. The early 
comers were just chuckling together over 
their luck in getting the best room, when the 
door opened again and Irenka entered, car- 
rying in her slim, white hands a soup plate 
piled with bread crumbs. After a glance 
at the busy group she said : 

4 ‘Babette, untidy little one, go to the bonne 
88 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


to have the hair brushed. Here, Hannchen, 
you shall please feed the birds. Laura, Aunt 
Annya will speak with you upstairs.” 

Jean, comprehending barely enough to 
know that her peaceful holiday was threat- 
ened, controlled a desire to interfere and 
waited for someone else to speak. In the 
case of Babette, at least, there was no need 
for sympathy or aid, for the little rogue ran 
her hands through her hair, ruffling it hope- 
lessly the wrong way, and said: 

“No, Renka, no, I go not to the bonne. I 
love you not to-day. Perhaps to-morrow I 
have love for you again. Now I love only 
Chinksy. Chack und Chill went up a pill!” 
She finished on a high note, and then skipped 
around the table to be out of Irenka’s reach. 

Laura hesitated, shook herself free of the 
clinging mantle, and replied in English: “I 
return in the very same instant. Naturally 
I go when the Aunts command, but I return 
in the same breath to sew our dress.” 

And Hannchen, dropping her scissors, 
stared from one girl to the other, until Irenka 

89 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


with a haughty gesture held out the plate 
and waved it in direction of the window. 

“It is not my week to feed,” protested 
Hannchen feebly. “Aunt Annya said to me 
to do when my name stands there written 
on the list.” And she pointed to a delicately 
penned paper pinned to the wall. 

“Ah, but I tell you to feed the birds,” 
Irenka said. “I come need; to the Aunts 
themselves, and you must obey.” 

J ean, trying by great effort both to get the 
drift of the talk and to remain neutral shut 
her lips tight together. She was thinking 
hard of what Aunt Lotti had said of the 
difference between the manners of different 
nationalities, and that those were unimpor- 
tant matters compared to big ones. She 
would have won the victory over her im- 
pulsive self had not Renka by ill chance 
addressed her next reproach to her: 

“It is not generous to take the comfortable 
place and to keep away all others. Acts 
one then so in the great America V 9 

Jean was instantly on her feet. Sweeping 
90 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


the table clear of her costume and tumbling 
the stars into Babette’s box, she answered: 

“In America we are all just the same, each 
girl like another. Nobody fusses at the 
younger ones and bosses them around. Any- 
way, you know very well that you and Olga 
had it made up to keep us out of here. I 
heard you telling Hedwig in German, and 
you thought I couldn’t understand. That’s 
why I gobbled my dinner down so fast.” 

“You say you are so good to Hannehen,” 
remarked Irenka, “but you set a va-ry bad 
example. She observes you; Babette ob- 
serves you; and it is more hardly for them 
to obey. Laura — all know it except you — 
Laura will be in large, large trouble if she 
follows as you lead.” 

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Jean, 
and the Russian smiled. 

“But Laura knows,” she answered. “Be- 
sides, I am eldest in the school, and all others 
shall do as I command. It is a rule of Villa 
Elinore, the Pension.” 

: 4 It’s just more foolishness,” exploded 
91 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Jean; “Pm sick and tired of your cleverest 
girl and your biggest girl, and your littlest 
girl, and all. It isn’t fair to put everything 
off on Hannchen, and I’d tell you so this 
once if you were the oldest girl in the whole 
wide world.” 

Laura had returned and was hopping in a 
very ecstasy of joy from one foot to the 
other, first encouraging Jean by a word of 
loyal backing, then prodding the Russian by 
a well-directed taunt, for Irenka’s overbear- 
ing ways had inevitably brought dislike as 
her portion. Hannchen, not finding the paper 
which she had been told to cut, cast her 
bright eyes about until they spied a heap of 
gauze upon a chair, and she set her shears 
to snipping that, while Babette pertly con- 
tributed her share to the general hub-bub. 

“It is Olga’s turn to feed the birdies,” 
she cried. “I heard.” 

Irenka walked over to a side table where 
the wells full of purple ink were kept, and 
left the plate of bread crumbs there. Her 
composure was shaken and her voice trembled 

92 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


when she spoke, whether from temper or 
from wounded sensibilities would have been 
hard to say. 

“It is commanded,” she announced, “that 
I must rule when the Aunts are not present. 
Until the American arrived there has been 
no trouble. There will yetly come large, 
large apology from her to me. I go now 
to Aunt Annya, but I return.” 

“Meine Liebe!” the interruption was from 
Laura, “look how the little one kicks the 
heavenly stars upon the floor!” 

It was too true! Babette had walked 
through the box and had spilled the stars 
upon the polished floor, and was now en- 
gaged in fanning them with her tiny apron 
to watch them fly about the room. While 
the owner was gathering them together once 
more, the mischievous child escaped to the 
corner where Irenka had left her rejected 
plate of crumbs among the ink wells. She 
was very quiet for a few minutes, when 
play palled upon her as work had done 
already, and she went off to her bonne. 

93 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Jean, feeling Irenka’s rebuke about taking 
the best place more than she would have 
admitted, found a corner near the stove and 
was fitting her belongings to it, when another 
interruption appeared in the person of Aunt 
Annya, followed by the two Russians. There 
was displeasure on Miss Evertz’s face, alarm 
on Olga’s, and the usual look of lofty superi- 
ority on that of Renka. 

“See you, see you,” began Aunt Annya, 
tapping her pencil against the list of duties 
for the week; “I myself have arranged this. 
It stands written that Laura shall help serve 
the morning coffee ; J ean shall dust the school- 
room consulting books ; and Olga shall feed 
the snow birds. Then why has she not done 
it?” 

Olga made a curtsey and faltered over her 
reply: “I have fed the birds, Aunt Annya. 
Truly every day I have fed them, until now 
Irenka told me ” 

Her cousin waved her back and took the 
word: “It is I who will answer, honorable 
Aunt Annya. The custom is that the 


94 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


younger girls shall obey the eldest. That 
you yourself have said. But I am the head 
no longer. There is grumbling, muttering, 
discontent. Olga had piano practice, while 
Hannchen was quite freely. Therefore I 
have said that Hannchen should do the va-ry 
small service to help her friend. Is that 
wrongly as I have said?” 

Jean’s attention, wandering for a moment, 
fell upon Laura staring at her, whereupon 
she gave the girl a swift wink which had 
the immediate effect of upsetting Molasses- 
Head’s self-control. At the sound of sub- 
dued hilarity behind her Aunt Annya turned 
to learn the reason. 

‘ 4 Laura,” the voice of authority was very 
grave, * 4 Laura, why do you find laughter 
in this matter?” 

The German curtseyed but replied in Eng- 
lish. “Ach, it is too comical,” she explained. 
“I would not laugh, Aunt Annya, if I were 
strong enough to mustn’t. Jean — she make 
winks at me with the eye — like so!” And 
she offered a repetition of the performance. 

95 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“You may go to your room,” Miss Evertz 
ordered. 

This brought quiet to the place, and the 
trial was resumed. Jean, after making a 
little mouth in the direction of the retiring 
Laura, dropped her Knix to Aunt Annya, for 
she had yielded to those around her and 
learned the custom. 

“It’s a half-holiday,” she said, “and 
Irenka hasn’t any right to come here, or 
send Olga, and break up our sewing party 
just because she wants this table for her- 
self. Hannchen has been helping me with 
my stars and I promised to fix her a dress 
when we get through this. Anyhow, she 
fed the birds all last week for another girl, 
she helps serve the coffee whenever the right 
one doesn’t want to, she shuts the windows 
in Parnassus all the time, and has to put 
out the shoes — boots, boots, I mean, don’t 
get dignified like that, Aunt Annya, for I’m 
trying to learn how real English people 

talk But if you wish her to feed the 

birds, I will have her do it.” 


96 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


Miss Evertz listened to this second appeal 
with the same patience she had bestowed 
upon the first, though a faint smile played 
about her lips, and despite herself she could 
not prevent her heart from melting. Her 
voice gave no sign of this, however, being 
cold and measured. 

“It is not your place to tell Hannchen 
what to do,” the decision came. “Irenka 
has said right ; she is in authority when none 
of us is present.” 

The door opened and Laura slipped in 
once more. ‘ 4 1 have been sent , 9 9 she hastened 
to explain. “Aunt Minni will speak with 
you, Aunt Annya, and she waits above.” 

. The tall lady paused to give her last de- 
cision: “Hannchen will come with me and 
sit fifteen minutes in a quiet place for re- 
fusing to obey. Olga, I am surprised and 
disappointed in you. You will feed the birds 
at once, and always do the tasks when your 
name stands written on the list. The name 
of each one comes in turn. It is not alto- 
gether for the birds, my child, nor that the 
7 97 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


books be dusted. It is much more that each 
young girl should learn to do a part to 
keep the world going right and well about 
her. Irenka, it is necessary to use care in 
giving orders, so that you seem not to take 
advantage because you have a little, a very 
little power. Power is given you here that 
you may learn to control first yourself and 
later on those who will be yours to govern, 
but not blindly.” 

Then she turned to Jean and continued in 
English: “And you, impetuous one, you have 
so much to learn. One cannot set the whole 
world straight by puffing and blowing, as 
if one were a big live firecracker. In our 
land each is trained to follow by a rule, and 
we have found the plan excellent. Try to be 
less conceited, Jean.” 

She was turning to the door when a burst 
of laughter stopped her. Laura had gone 
good-naturedly to bring back the disputed 
crumbs, and now she gave herself up to 
shrieks of merriment. 

“Ach, du Liebe lawsy-mussy me!” she 

98 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


cried. “I beg many pardons, honorable 
Annt Annya, for my speech, bnt Babette has 
emptied the ink from all the stands into the 
plate of bird food and has stirred it np 
around together. What a mess is there and 
what for a monkey-child she is!” 

The sight of Babette ’s royal purple pud- 
ding brought smiles to every face, even the 
Russians rousing themselves from their 
gloom and Aunt Annya not being proof 
against the madness of this prank. She 
passed on out, however, followed by Laura, 
Hannchen and Irenka. Olga took the be- 
spattered plate and went off to beg a new 
supply of stale bread from the housekeeper, 
her mind made up to feed the birds from 
the window of some other room; and Jean 
began work once more on the Columbia 
costume. 

She felt out of sorts and the zest seemed 
entirely gone. She shook the gorgeous blue 
mantle irritably, looked about for the box 
of stars and on a chair across the room dis- 
covered something which drove other worries 
99 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


from her mind. When Laura, excused from 
punishment, came in a few minutes later, 
she was greeted by a wail: 

“Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do? 
I’ve gone and got myself into another silly 
scrape!” 

“Scrape?” echoed Molasses-Head. “I do 
not know this word, the scrape. WLere is 
your scrape, my friend?” 

“Never mind, never mind the word!” Jean 
held both hands outstretched with a tragic 
sweep. “Look there! Do you call those paper 
stars?” 

Laura went nearer and examined the ob- 
jects on the other’s palm. Even her buoyant 
voice was softened temporarily before this 
new catastrophe. “Ach,” she whispered, 
“how gloriously the Russians will be angry! 
Hannchen has cut Olga’s stuff to stars! I 
have said she would! I have said to you 
she would cut and cut and never stop!” 

“You needn’t rub it in,” said Jean. “And 
anyway- 

“Rub it in?” repeated Laura, evincing 
100 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


lively interest in this bit of American slang. 
“That has a pleasant sound. What does it 
mean?” 

“Hush,” Jean begged, “hush, and let me 
try to think. I didn’t care what Irenka said 

as long as I was right, but now Oh, 

what a goose I am ! WTiat shall I do ? Where 
did she buy the stuff?” 

“In the town,” said Laura promptly. “I 
was with them; Aunt Minni was kind and 
she took us to the shops.” 

Jean looked up at the clock and her face 
cleared a little. “It’s only five,” she said. 
“On half-holidays no one looks to see where 
we are until supper time at seven. Don’t 
you say a word — of course I know you won’t. 
I’m going to slip on my things and go to 
town. Maybe I can fix it so Olga will never 
guess.” 

“Town!” said Laura, quite staggered by 
this bold proposition. “A pupil may never 
leave the Villa alone. It is the baddest dis- 
obedience one can do, — the baddest except 
one. You must not.” 


101 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“They can’t kill me for it,” Jean answered 
wilfully. “Besides, don’t you see? I’ve got 
to do something to make things right. Irenka 
will be so mad at Hannchen, and she’ll he so 
furious at me, I’m going to town — right 
this minute.” 

“We have no money,” was Laura’s next 
objection, an objection easily overcome by 
the production of a silver mesh purse from 
the front of Jean’s blouse. 

“I can’t count your ridiculous old thalers 
and things,” said Jean, screwing up her face 
over the coins she had shaken into her hand, 
“but that won’t keep me back. I’ll just give 
them all of it and let them do the worrying 
and the figuring.” 

“In the shop ” Molasses-Head was 

evidently struck by a new and tremendous 
thought. “In the shop, meine Shinksy, they 
will not understand your talk. It is comical 
when you speak our tongue. ’ ’ 

The two girls stared at each other in 
silence for a full thirty seconds. The same 
idea had assailed them both, and they read 
102 


JEAN ADDS FUEL 


it dearly in each other’s eyes. Finally with 
one accord they caught hands and began 
capering about the table, doing the barn 
dance which Jean had introduced at Villa 
Elinore and singing a dialogue to the tune 
of the Watch on the Rhine. 

“It is dark outside,” carolled Laura, “and 
I have fright ! But I am a pleasant girl ! I 
go with you! I go with you!” 

“If Shadow were only here,” Jean piped 
with the wicked purpose of stimulating the 
newborn resolve. “Shadow would not be 
afraid. Shadow would go anywhere with 
me!” 

“I am here and the Shad-Fish is far 
away ! ’ ’ sang Laura in reply. * ‘ Come quickly 
then. We go to the town!” 


VI 


A BARON, A STUDENT, AND A TATTLETALE MAKER 
OF TROUBLE 

Very quietly the pair of truants slipped 
through the doorway, and out into the dark- 
ness. They had agreed not to speak until 
they reached the bridge across the river 
Neckar, beyond which the town snuggled up 
against the hills, but at the first step upon 
it Jean burst forth in buoyant voice: 

“Oh, I didn’t know how sick I was of 
being chaperoned! Isn’t this exciting, to 
be dashing along as if there were soldiers, 
or Indians, or bloodhounds behind us, and 
if they caught up we would be torn to 
pieces!” 

Laura grunted. “I do not believe blood- 
hounds would hurt so much as Aunt Minni 
with her tongue when she hears what we 
are doing. It is well you cannot understand 
when Aunt Minni is cross.” 

“I did understand,” said Jean ruefully. 

104 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 


“She can say one word to me anyway. She 
called me— what do you think! — she called 
me a mosquito because I tore my petticoat ! ’ ’ 

1 1 She will hear to-morrow, ’ 9 Laura prophe- 
sied. 4 4 There is always one who sees and 
who makes trouble .’ 9 

“Well, let’s have all the fun we can to- 
night,” counselled the reckless Jean, “and 
not think about to-morrow.” 

So they did have fun. Neither of them 
had ever been to town at this hour before. 
The narrow thoroughfare was gay with 
lights which fell on ladies in furs and ruddy 
German gentlemen, all hastening homeward 
to the evening meal and later to the opera 
or a concert; while dozens of students from 
the University, their faces furrowed with 
scars, their caps adding touches of vivid 
scarlet, blue and green to the scene, threaded 
in and out, some leading dogs as big as 
calves, others locking arms and laughingly 
elbowing their way along. 

The place which kept the tarlatan was 
soon found and the purchase made with so 


105 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


much speed and so little cost that the run- 
aways had a surplus both of time and money 
when they stepped once more into the 
crowded street. They rambled on, buying 
chestnuts from a corner vender, violets at 
the fragrant little flower shop, alternately 
chewing the former and sniffing the latter 
with a sense of freedom from restraint that 
was intoxicating. 

“Wouldn’t it be lovely if it were day- 
light?” suggested Jean, as they passed a 
photographer’s showcase. “We’d go in and 
have our pictures taken. I want to send 
one of you to Shadow, and uncle has plumb 
forgotten how I look, I reckon, I mean dare 
say and wis. 

Laura pounced, as she invariably did, upon 
the word she had not heard before. “Plum, 
meine Liebe?” she inquired. “It is a fruit 
to be eaten.” 

“It’s slang,” said Jean. “Don’t you learn 
it. Let’s go up the steps anyway, and see 
if the man could take a flashlight. Will 
you!” 


106 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 


‘ i Be hushed ! ’ ’ Laura checked her suddenly 
with an ominous whisper and a warning 
clutch. “We have been followed; for five 
minutes this student has followed after ! Do 
you not see?” 

“Oh bother V 9 was Jean’s rejoinder. “He 
isn’t even thinking of us. Can’t you let a 
poor little student walk in the avenue with- 
out being suspicious that he’s on our trail?” 

Nevertheless she noticed that the young 
man in question seemed to fit his wander- 
ings to theirs. He was tall and slender, with 
a noticeable grace, and his small gold- 
trimmed cap sat like a crown on his fair 
hair. He had no companion, not even a dog ; 
he appeared to he in no hurry to get any- 
where at any particular time, but turned 
when the girls did, and kept a watchful, 
amused interest in their proceedings. When 
at last they wheeled and faced him for an 
instant, he smiled composedly, saluted by 
a touch of his cap, and made as if to fall 
into step beside them. Even Jean’s love of 
adventure did not go so far as scraping ac- 
107 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


quaintance with strange knights in the high- 
way, however, and looking about for the best 
escape she spied the confectioner’s illumi- 
nated door and pushed Laura toward it. 

‘ 4 Here’s the cake-house,” she said in a 
low, quick voice. ‘ 4 Let’s just buy some stuff 
— anything to eat — and lose the horrid fel- 
low. If he were a gentleman he wouldn’t 
have to be lost like that. Although he is 
good looking. Did you notice that?” 

‘ ‘ If you have more money, rich American, ’ ’ 
agreed Laura, “you may buy. For me, I 
am poor. And I think we return home then 
if the student allows.” 

“Well, I’d like to see any student keep me 
back when I’m really ready,” boasted Jean. 
“Come on in and let’s see what he does.” 

The shop was full of people — fashionable 
ladies, little children attended by their 
bonnes, maids with shawls about their 
heads — all waiting to be served. Laura stud- 
ied the faces furtively, being well aware that 
the Aunts often sent the servants here on 
errands, while Jean, winning the confec- 


108 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 


tioner’s attention by her smiles, pointed out 
which cakes she wished. Presently she felt 
a grip upon her arm. 

“Come,” whispered Molasses-Head/ 'come 
fast, my Shinksy. The beautiful student has 
entered, and there is another here who knows 
me and will tell. He is a friend of the Aunts. 
He drinks coffee with them often. Come.” 

J ean gave a flying glance at the stout figure 
approaching and noted the nearsighted eyes 
set deep in the smooth pink face. She, too, 
recognized him, for this gentleman was a 
Baron and a man of note as a collector of 
works of art. Only last week she had writ- 
ten with zest to Shad about the honor of 
sitting beside him at an afternoon party. 
It was hardly probable that he would con- 
descend to know her; but she could not be 
sure, so she laid the package of tarlatan on 
the counter, shook the last remaining money 
from the purse into her palm, and would 
have escaped unnoticed had not something 
happened to prevent. 

' The whole thing occurred with lightning 

109 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


quickness. Laura, in growing anxiety, gave 
the sleeve she had gripped a tremendous 
jerk. The coin spun from Jean’s fingers 
and rolled to the Baron ’s feet. He hesitated, 
squinted from one girl to the other, picked 
the money up and restored it to its owner, 
who, blushing very prettily, passed it across 
the counter and the episode was over — for 
the time. 

But the nonchalant student who was wait- 
ing in a corner now prepared to lounge out 
again and seeing the little parcel which Jean 
had left he took it along, smiling to himself 
as if at a joke. 

Meantime the truants hastened silently 
toward home. They did not believe the 
Baron had known them, and they comforted 
themselves with the idea that they had lost 
the student; but the encounters had damp- 
ened their spirits. There were fewer people 
passing to and fro than a half hour before; 
some of the shops had darkened their win- 
dows. Jean, slipping on an icy crossing, real* 
ized that she had forgotten her rubbers and 
no 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 

that her feet were distressingly cold. The 
taste of the forbidden fruit was already 
soured, leaving behind only a sickish wonder 
as to what the after-effects would be. Neither 
of them spoke until they reached the first 
light on the bridge, when Laura said: 

“The flowers I shall throw away because 
I have a fright to take them in. The nuts 
we did eat. I have the honey cakes and 
you ” 

“You may throw away the violets I gave 
you, if you like,” Jean broke in irritably. 
“It’s not very polite, to say the least, but 
if that’s the German custom when you get 
something from a friend, why, don’t keep 
them on my account.” 

‘ ‘ Shinksy ! ’ ’ protested Molasses - Head, 
stopping short off in her tracks, smitten 
motionless by the accusation and the new 
edge in the other’s voice. “Shinksy! I 
am a pleasant girl ! ” 

“I can’t help it whether you’re pleasant 
or not,” said Jean. “If you don’t hurry up 
we’ll be late for supper, and then there will 


in 


A DIXIE HOSE IN BLOOM 


be a fuss! The school’s like a convent any- 
way! I never heard of not trusting a girl 
to stick her nose out of the house without a 
teacher ! ’ ’ 

Poor Laura held tight to the bunch of 
violets, feeling that she could not desert her 
friend even though the flowers would need 
better explanation than she could give, were 
Aunt Minni to find them, and went faith- 
fully on. 

“Only do not be sad,” she pleaded. “Be 
comical and merry. I have the cakes and 
flowers. You have the stuff for Olga.” 

Jean, who had been tramping doggedly 
along, halted and clapped a hand to each 
pocket of her ulster. In the flickering light 
of the bridge lamps her face looked wan 
and tired. 

“I haven’t!” she said emphatically, “I 
haven’t anything, — not a blessed thing un- 
less it is a cold! My feet are wet and as 
cold as charity!” And she wiped her nose so 
fiercely that Laura dared not speak. But a 
moment later Jean went on of her own ac- 


112 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 


cord: “Didn’t the woman give the tarlatan 
to you? I don’t think I had it.” 

“But no! She gave it into your hands — 
exactly!” 

Jean lifted both those members to show 
that they were empty, then shook them in 
desperation. “Don’t talk, please,” she or- 
dered, “I’m thinking back. Yes, she gave 
it to me — stupid old tarlatan. Olga wouldn’t 
buy such stuff if she knew that fairies and 
nymphs are out of style. I had it when we 
bought the violets. I had it when — in the 
cake-house ! I left it on the cake-house 
counter because that fat Baron squinched up 
his eyes and squinted at us. I ’ll go back and 
get it.” 

She swung around, but Laura caught her 
arm. “No.” she begged. “It is an impos- 
sible thing. It is late. We will be caught.” 

“You needn’t be caught,” the words came 
from over Jean’s shoulder, for she was walk- 
ing away with all her speed. “Run home 
and save yourself if you’re afraid.” 

Laura hesitated only the fraction of a 


8 


113 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


second before catching up and slipping a 
hand through the other’s arm. 

“I always think of what the Shadow-Fish 
would do,” she said, “and then I do thusly 
as she would.” 

“I’m so tired,” wailed Jean as they skur- 
ried along. “I’m scared at everyone we meet. 
Did you see that woman with her head 
wrapped up like a mummy? She stared at 
us. I couldn’t hold out, Laura, if you de- 
serted me!” 

They did not have far to go, however, for 
at the end of the bridge a man stepped from 
the shadows and held out the missing pack- 
age. Jean, recognizing it even in the dim 
light, was too relieved for a moment to think 
of anything else; but when she had seized 
it, she raised her eyes and saw the student 
from whom they had run some time earlier 
in the evening. 

“Oh, thank you,” she said in some con- 
fusion as he smiled his amused smile at her. 
“Laura, tell him thank you in German, won’t 

114 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 


you? Danke, danke, danke. Say it in Ger- 
man, Laura, please, and hurry up.” 

“It is unnecessary, Mademoiselle,” the 
student assured her in perfect English. 
“The pleasure is mine. I saw you leave the 
parcel. I therefore followed.” 

His air was so droll and so complacent that 
both the girls laughed and Jean recovered 
from her fright. 

“It was kind of you,” she said. “But 
considering that you had been following us 
for a half hour before, and that we went into 
the cake-house just because ” 

The young man laughed with them. “Be- 
cause of me!” he interrupted. “What an 
honor! To be mistaken for a — what shall I 
say? — a robber! A kidnapper, as you say 
in your country!” 

“How do you know I’m an American?” 
asked Jean innocently, at which the student 
laughed anew. 

“I have good reason to follow you,” he 
said, instead of telling how he knew her 
115 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 

nationality. “At the place where you buy 
violets you have left this, and at the place 
where you buy chestnuts you have left 
that!” 

As he spoke he whipped from one pocket 
a tiny handkerchief and from another a 
knitted mitten. The latter he gave up to 
Laura when she reached a bare hand for it 
from her muff, but the handkerchief he thrust 
back into his own great coat. 

“Oh, please !” cried Jean. “We are in 
such a hurry! I didn’t know I dropped it. 
It has my name in the corner, where Polly 
Martin marked it with indelible ink. Please 
give it to me!” 

The student bowed and showed his teeth 
in the smile Jean was beginning to distrust. 
“A handkerchief is but a trifle,” he said. 
“I have walked far to serve you, and I keep 
this as my reward.” 

“Then keep it, if you want something 
that’s not yours, and that I wouldn’t give 
you if you begged till you were blue,” said 
Jean, growing peevish once more in the use- 


116 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 


lessness of argument. 6 ‘ Come on, Laura. 
Let’s get to the school as fast as we can go.” 
And off they marched, leaving their unwel- 
come squire watching them from the bridge. 

Around the Villa all was peace, and good 
fortune favored them, for they crept in un- 
observed, and while Laura carried the violets 
to Parnassus crushed inside her muff, Jean 
arranged the new tarlatan on the chair where 
the old had been, and had the satisfaction of 
seeing Olga bear it off without suspicion. 

Throughout the evening, while the good 
Pastor read aloud and the listeners worked 
at their embroidery, the two truants had a 
sense of discomfort, lest in some manner the 
secret of their expedition should leak out; 
but nothing developed. Neither did they have 
any summons to headquarters next morn- 
ing ; but just after dinner the storm broke 
above their heads, being all the more furious 
for its postponement. 

Irenka and Hannchen were already dressed 
for their promenade and had left the lag- 
gards to follow downstairs, when a red-eyed 
117 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


maid brought the message that Fraulein 
Evertz wanted Jean and Laura in her office. 
The two looked guiltily at each other, and 
Jean was first to speak: 

“The jig’s up,” she cried. “I knew some 
tattletale would tell. Aunt Annya’s on the 
warpath with everybody, I reckon. Did you 
notice that girl’s eyes? She had been cry- 
ing. The jig’s up, Laura!” 

“The jig?” repeated the other mournfully. 
“What is this you call the jig?” Then with- 
out waiting to hear she went on: “Ach, what 
they will do for punishment ! Come, we get 
it quickly over ! ’ ’ 

Slowly they removed their hats and ulsters, 
and even more slowly they descended to the 
little room where the eldest of the Aunts 
sat usually before her desk. To-day she was 
not sitting, but paced the floor back and forth 
in a restless mood that had for its root more 
genuine disappointment than the girls could 
guess. As they made their curtseys she re- 
garded them gravely, and then she spoke 
in English: 


118 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 


“I wish the truth. Jean, I ask you, — 
were you in the town last night without leave 
— my child f ” 

The two finishing words, though tardy, 
softened the question and actually changed 
the outburst on Jean’s lips to a respectful 
answer. Her intention had been to bluster 
that she was not in the habit of lying and 
needed no reminder about the truth, but what 
she said was: 

“We did go. I don’t know who tattled on 
us, but it’s true. We broke the rules. I 
broke them, I mean. It’s all my fault. I 
made Laura go when she didn’t want to.” 

“Is Laura little child then?” 

“No, honorable Aunt Annya, no,” pro- 
tested Molasses-Head, but Jean would not 
let her speak. 

“It didn’t seem anything so terrible to 
do,” she said. “I told Hannchen to cut out 
stars and she cut up Olga’s stuff, and I had 
to get more for her, so I went. Laura begged 
me not to, but she went with me because they 
might not understand my German.” 

119 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“Ah, I see,” said Miss Evertz, “Laura 
broke our rules and did this very wrong 
thing, for friendship’s sake. Would you do 
as much for her?” 

“Of course,” Jean eagerly asserted. “If 
you don’t believe me, try it. I’ll tell you 
what, Aunt Annya. It was honestly my fault. 
You punish me once for myself and another 
time for Laura.” 

Miss Evertz turned to the other offender. 
“What have you to say?” she questioned. 

Molasses-Head made a gesture of complete 
resignation. “The jig is up,” she quoted, 
but luckily for her the stern judge’s atten- 
tion had gone back to J ean, and this remark 
was lost. 

“Words are easy,” she was saying. “If 
the nature is impetuous, quick and thought- 
less it is easy to give promises and to make 
grand speeches. I am going to take you on 
what you suggest.” 

Then she wheeled around once more. 
“You will get no punishment, my Laura, ex- 
cept that you must see your friend bear 
120 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 

punishment for you. It will hurt you. I 
hope then you will remember all your life 
that you cannot break any law without bring- 
ing trouble to those who love you. Now you 
may go.” 

Laura started toward the door, then found 
her courage and rebelled: “No,” she cried, 
“I take the same as Shinksy. I went with 
my two feet.” 

Miss Evertz shook her head. * i You will 
be punished by the thoughts in your mind,” 
she said. “Go, my child.” And Laura, feel- 
ing like a traitor and deserter, was obliged 
to leave her champion to face disgrace alone. 

“What do you wish very much to 
do?” asked Aunt Annya after a moment 
of thinking. 

“To go to the Davis school for afternoon 
tea,” said Jean, mentally resolved to offer 
up her most cherished hopes without flinch- 
ing. “You told me to accept for Saturday 
afternoon. And all the Pension is going to 
Mannheim to the opera to-morrow. I have 
been dreaming of that ever since I came.” 

121 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“It is well,” said the old lady mercilessly. 
“Then you will please stay at home both 
times, one time for yourself and one for 
Laura.” 

Jean’s face had been flushed, but it turned 
pale all at once. The speaking of impas- 
sioned words does indeed create a glow of 
self-satisfaction, as Aunt Annya had warned 
her. This glow was giving way to the cold- 
ness of burned-out ashes now, and she felt 
no longer the fire of desire for sacrifice. 
She had looked forward to that afternoon 
in the English colony, where her own lan- 
guage would be spoken without stint or ac- 
cent and where the young folks were to play 
hockey after tea; and as for the opera! 
The opportunity of hearing real German 
opera was one of the chief anticipations of 
her stay abroad! She was too proud to 
show how much she cared, however, and she 
even forced a quavery little smile as she 
curtseyed and said: 

“Very well, Aunt Annya. I will stay home 
as you say.” 


122 


BARON, STUDENT, TATTLETALE 


She had reached the door, holding her fair 
head very high and blinking to keep back 
the tears, when Miss Evertz recalled her. 
There was a suspicion of breaking in the 
well-modulated voice, and the girl turned to 
see the usually cold features of her teacher 
working spasmodically. 

“Jean,” she said, “Jean, do not mis- 
understand! I do this for you, child. It is 
not my pleasure that I must make you un- 
happy.” 

Next moment Jean was on the floor, her 
face buried in the black silk lap, with Aunt 
Annya caressing the ruffled curly hair. Per- 
haps they came nearer each other in that 
tender time than had been possible during 
all the past weeks together; perhaps both 
tried to overcome the prejudice of custom 
and habit and to act nobly, for presently 
the old lady said: 

“Never since we have had the school have 
we changed an order to a pupil, but I think 
you have been punished already. I think 
you will stop to think hereafter. Therefore, 

123 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


yon will forget what I commanded, and yon 
will go with the others to the opera and to 
the ” 

But Jean sat up on her heels and lifted a 
tear-stained face. “No,” she insisted, “no, 
thank you, Aunt Annya. That’s just why 
things are so hard for me now. Nobody 
ever made me give up my way. Nobody 
ever talked to me like you and Aunt Lotti 
do. I just can’t bear it if you back down!” 

And for the second time on record the 
unapproachable senior Fraulein Evertz felt 
herself seized and kissed vehemently upon 
the chin. 


VII 


THE MASQUERADE IS FOLLOWED BY A CHALLENGE 
TO FIGHT A DUEL 

With heroic courage Jean stuck to her de- 
cision and watched the others array them- 
selves in their gayest finery for the Mann- 
heim opera. Deep in her heart was a hope 
that Laura would stay home, too, and poor 
Molasses-Head, undergoing a talk in the 
Fairy Attic, begged the higher powers to 
let her do so. Aunt Annya, to the astonish- 
ment of her sisters, seemed to favor the plan, 
and would have made the punishment easier 
for Jean by having Laura share it; but 
Aunt Lotti was inflexible. 

“Character!” said the invalid, with the 
obstinate little twist to her shoulders. “Char- 
acter must be formed. There are reasons 
why Laura shall grow firm and self-reliant. 
She is specializing in music, and opportunity 
to hear the opera is part of her education, 
125 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


not a frolic to be taken or left. Jean will 
stay home. Laura will go. ’ ’ 

So one girl went to the feast of music re- 
bellious and heavy-hearted, while the other 
sat solitary in the deserted school-room, writ- 
ing Uncle Jasper a letter which she destroyed 
next day because it was too doleful to send 
across the sea. 

The second sacrifice came easier, for it 
turned out to be a snowy Saturday unfit 
for hockey, and the interrupted matter of 
the masquerade costumes loomed up to fill 
the time with work and laughter. 

“ I think that Baron told the Aunts,’ ’ 
mumbled Laura from the floor, where she 
was tied into a double bow knot trying to 
find out if Hannchen’s beaded Indian skirt 
was evenly hung. 

“Well, I don’t care right now,” said Jean. 
“The thing to do is finish up the costumes 
and think about the fun ahead. But later 
on when I get time again, — if I find out who 
that tattletale was, I’ll make ’em sorry. I 
will!” 


126 


A CHALLENGE TO FIGHT A DUEL 


Laura laughed at her vindictive tone. 
“How would you cause a Herr Baron to be 
sorry, meine Liebe!” she inquired. 

“Oh, I don’t want to fix it up till I have 
plenty of time,” Jean told her. “Maybe I’d 
step out and denounce him in public, right 
before Aunt Annya when they, were drinking 
coffee and talking about their precious old 
cameos and things. I might say he was 
a spy and get him into trouble with the 
government.” 

“I hope I hear it, Shinksy, when you do 
thusly at the Baron,” remarked Laura. “It 
will be comical.” 

“I’ll send you an invitation maybe, if I 
know beforehand,” promised her friend. 
“Anyway, it might be somebody else. Please 
look what Hannchen’s doing! She’s picked 
off half the beads it took me a week ’most to 
sew on! Tell her to stop that; tell her I’ll 
pull her hair out, Laura!” And the con- 
versation went from broken English into 
still more broken German, as Jean under- 
took to scold the offender. 


127 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


The masquerade party came on the fol- 
lowing Tuesday. Besides the boarders the 
day pupils all came masked, and the fun 
began early with a parade about the rooms 
before a gallery of teachers and portly 
parents, who sat at tables refreshing them- 
selves with cake and coffee and guessing 
who was who. To the rejoicing of the house- 
hold Aunt Lotti felt particularly well, and 
despite misgivings of her sisters, insisted on 
playing the music, sounding a few magnifi- 
cent chords as a start-off when the double 
doors opened and the procession appeared. 

At the head of the line came a violet, not 
very big in size, but a thousand times sweeter 
than real ones from the florist ’s, Aunt Minni 
thought, for the va-ry cross Aunt’s tenderest 
spot was motherless Babette, the little girl 
whose bed had stood for two years beside 
her own. While the violet danced by there 
was much nodding to each other among the 
onlookers, and for the tiny masquerader’s 
delectation a buzz of comment filled the air. 

“Can the violet be the tall Irenka?” 


128 


A CHALLENGE TO FIGHT A DUEL 


“No, it is the American, I think.” 

“Ah, how wonder-beautiful she is!” 

Many girls had wished to dress the baby 
of the school, and fickle Babette had settled 
the problem by skipping from one camp to 
another, getting Bussian petals, German 
foliage and American finishing touches, pay- 
ing for all by recitations of Chack und Chill 
and their ascent of the pill. 

The long-cloaked bandit chief who followed 
the violet lost his hat in the sweeping bow 
he made, showing a pair of heavy molasses- 
colored braids when he stooped to pick it up. 
Then came a Bavarian peasant couple in black 
velvet and green embroidery; and Columbia, 
superbly crowned with laurel and attended 
by an Indian squaw in beads and feathers 
more gorgeous than any mere squaw could 
ever wear. More flowers followed, flaunting 
poppies, white and yellow daisies; a gauze 
butterfly with gold and purple wings ; and an 
imperious Juno whose head was held so 
proudly that no one knowing Irenka could 
fail to recognize this goddess. 


9 


129 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Very gay they looked, winding about in 
the figures which the bouncing gymnastic 
master had worked so hard to teach them; 
and around and around they went, doubling, 
gliding, sometimes hopping, breaking now 
and then into laughter and chatter, until the 
music ended with a crash and Aunt Lotti 
went to join her sisters and the guests. Then 
the line melted into a rainbow of color, the 
little flowers taking off their masks, while the 
others kept up the mystery as long as 
possible. 

Columbia had run upstairs to re-arrange 
her laurels, with a hopeful idea that when 
the delegation from Mr. Davis’s school 
arrived the dancing would begin, and re- 
turning through the hall she caught voices 
from one of the small alcoves. She would 
have passed by but the sound of her own 
name stopped her. 

“Jean,” the summons came from Fraulein 
Annya, “Jean, will you please come in?” 

She turned at once, but on the threshold 
she paused and looked with parted lips and 
130 


A CHALLENGE TO FIGHT A DUEL 


startled eyes at the little private party. At 
a table, with coffee caps on the richly em- 
broidered cloth, sat Aunt Annya and the 
Baron! Jean had presence of mind enough 
to curtsey, then Miss Evertz said: 

“This is our American pupil, Herr Baron, 
Jean Spencer. I think you will remember 
her uncle, Mr. Jasper Rose, who once re- 
sided in our town. Ah, I see by your face 
that you have met Jean before.” 

A light of recognition had indeed broken 
on the Baron’s ruddy countenance, and Jean 
said hotly to herself: “He ought to know 
me! Now I’m sure he’s the one that told! 
Just by the guilty look!” 

Nevertheless she managed to conceal her 
feelings, and on a gesture of invitation from 
Fraulein Annya she sat down on the extreme 
edge of a chair. She heard the piano starting 
a delicious waltz, the laughter of boyish 
voices told her the Davis party had arrived, 
she saw Aunt Minni pass the door escorted 
by an officer in full dress uniform, so she 
devoutly wished the Baron had chosen some 

131 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


other time to pay his call, or that Aunt Annya 
did not consider talking with elderly gentle- 
men, especially spying and tattletale ones, 
part of a young lady’s education. 

She evidently did so consider it, however, 
and presently she even excused herself and 
left Jean to do the honors all alone. Columbia 
fidgeted uncomfortably on the chair, the 
Baron made a few dull remarks, then all 
at once his nearsighted eyes narrowed, and 
he said with an effort at jocoseness: 

“'I remember you well, Fraulein. That 
was a most amusing circumstance in the cake^ 
house the other evening. First I was not 
sure, but when I have picked up the money 
and restored it to you ” 

As if this confession were not enough for 
Jean the Hothead to make conclusions on, 
Laura appeared that moment in the door and 
stood there watching with a smile. The smile 
was perhaps what really settled the matter. 
It tantalized Jean beyond her powers of re- 
sistance. Next moment she was on her feet, 
facing the. astonished Baron. 


132 


A CHALLENGE TO FIGHT A DUEL 


“I remember you too,” she said. ‘ ‘ Maybe 
it’s your way in Germany, to tell tales on 
school girls that can’t help themselves! 
That’s what you did! You can’t deny it!” 

But when she had stalked with all the 
dignity she could muster from the room, 
Laura threw cold water on her heroics. 

“ Ach,” cried Molasses-Head, half laugh- 
ing and half lamenting, “how you are a 
goosie! I have never thought you would 
say it! It could not be the Baron who told, 
or Aunt Annya would not leave you so to talk 
with him and make him amused!” 

“Maybe you are right,” admitted Jean. 
Then burning with ardor to undo what she 
had with equal ardor done, she added: “I’ll 
go right back and say I’m sorry.” 

“No,” said Laura. “Aunt Annya is there 
now. By the other door she enter. Have 
your party first, and be sorry to-morrow. ” 

This seemed sensible advice, and Jean 
allowed herself to be drawn into a whirl of 
gaiety. The half-dozen English lads, whom 
she had seen in church, wanted to exchange 


133 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


stories of their Indian birthplace for those 
about America, Mrs. Davis complimented her 
on an essay the master had pronounced par- 
ticularly fine, and set a new date for the tea 
drinking and game of hockey, Fritz, the 
blond nephew of the Fraulein Evertz, clam- 
ored to be taught the barn dance, and the 
evening sped on wings, carrying with it all 
recollection of her outbreak to the Baron. 

She had finished a “hoppy” waltz with 
Fritz and was waiting for him to bring re- 
freshments to the table where he had left 
her, when her attention became riveted on a 
trio just entering the room. One was Irenka, 
still in her beautiful Juno dress ; the second 
Olga, a butterfly in the tarlatan which had 
been the cause of so much trouble ; and be- 
tween them sauntered nonchalantly a tall 
young man whom Jean recognized despite 
the severity of his correct dress suit. It was 
the student who had followed Laura and her- 
self that night ! 

Again her mind worked quickly, putting 
things together and jumping at conclusions. 

134 


A CHALLENGE TO FIGHT A DUEL 


Renka had said her brother was in the 
University. This then was Renka ’s brother, 
he had been amused at the boldness of their 
escapade ; he had laughed his hateful laugh 
right in their faces, keeping the marked 
handkerchief to prove the story, and — why, 
how plain the matter was ! — he had been the 
tattletale! It was like the family he be- 
longed to! 

The room was filled with people. Mrs. 
Davis happened at the moment to be speak- 
ing to Aunt Lotti of the American’s pretty 
manners, and was watching her while she 
talked; the Baron fortunately was too far 
away to see her even by squinting; there 
were officers and students scattered about 
and all the guests had drifted to the spot 
for the last words before breaking up the 
party. 

Then the student saw her. The bored ex- 
pression on his handsome face gave way to a 
smile of anticipation and he turned his trio 
straight in Jean’s direction. They made 
their way past several groups, all eyes fol- 

135 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


lowing the distinguished Russians, and more 
than one girlish heart beating with hope that 
Irenka might introduce her brother. But she 
noticed no one until she reached the table 
in the corner, when her voice sounded clear 
and haughty: 

‘ ‘ Miss Spencer, I wish to present my 
brother, Nicholas d’Owoski, who has asked 
to meet you.’’ 

Jean looked into the young man’s eyes and 
was almost disarmed by their frankness. 
Then she remembered the punishment she 
had endured, the opera she had given up, 
and placed the blame not on herself for dis- 
obeying authority, but on the one she now 
felt sure had betrayed the secret. Nicholas 
d’Owoski bowed low and held out his hand 
with easy grace. 

“I am charmed, Mademoiselle,” he said. 

Once more she was all but disarmed by his 
frankness. Once more, alas, Laura appeared 
with her tantalizing smile just in time to 
precipitate Jean to disaster. The hand she 
had almost lifted fell to her side, and Jean 

136 


A CHALLENGE TO FIGHT A DUEL 


looked over Mr. d’Owoski’s head as if he 
did not exist. 

“ I don’t care to meet anybody who sneaks 
in and tells on other people, ’ 9 she said dis- 
tinctly. 

A sort of gasp ran around the room. Some 
of the listeners did not understand the words, 
but everyone saw the refusal to meet Irenka 9 s 
brother, and everybody was amazed. A hum 
of whispering broke out. The three Evertz 
sisters all started in Jean’s direction, but 
she gathered her starry mantle about her 
and walked away before they reached her. 
Laura made as if to follow, but was de- 
tained by Aunt Lotti, and upstairs in 
Parnassus alone Jean took off her clothes 
and crept wearily into bed. 

Nothing was said about her behavior next 
day, although she was in nervous dread of 
it throughout the morning. The other girls, 
more robust than she, felt no bad effects from 
their late hours or their fun, being as ready 
for routine as if masquerades were ordinary 
matters to them; but she was listless and 
137 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


unhappy. All her lessons went wrong, she 
upset the purple ink on her crochet, and 
she was so deaf to Babette’s Chack und 
Chill that the little girl went to Aunt Minni 
with complaints. There was no school on 
Wednesday afternoon, so as soon as dinner 
was over she cuddled down near the stove, 
with Hans on her lap and “Lorna Doone” 
open before her aching eyes. Here presently 
Olga found her, and with a mighty air of 
mystery laid upon her book a folded note. 
The fine cobweb writing read as follows: 

“Mademoiselle Irene Sophie Nathalie 
Dagmar Marie d’Owoski do fight a duel with 
the American. Else she shall make apology. 
Not to be telled the Aunts. The duel is 
muchly forbid. I think you will have fear.” 

Jean went through it twice before she got 
even a glimmering of its purpose. Olga pre- 
tended to study the list of duties on the wall, 
but her head was turned so that the deep-set 
gray eyes might note the effect of the corn- 

138 


A CHALLENGE TO FIGHT A DUEL 


munication she had brought, and after a 
minute the answering war cry came : 

“I never heard of girls fighting duels, and I 
think it ’s unladylike. My Mammy would have 
a fit, I reckon, suppose and wis. Blood makes 
me awfully sick, and I don’t know a pistol 
from a revolver or a sabre from a sword. 
But I hope an American has as much cour- 
age as all the Russians put together.’ ’ 

With which rather weighty boast she tore 
the blank leaf from “Lorna Doone,” and let 
her pencil fly across it, thankful for once that 
she had a lavish supply of nicknames. 

“Miss Jeannette Rose Blossom Jinksy 
Rosebud Spencer, of Rose Park, Alabama, 
United States of America, thanks the Rus- 
sian for her kind invitation to fight a duel 
and begs to say she accepts with pleasure.” 

She paused, nibbled at the silver pencil as 
an aid to thought, and added : 

“P.S.: I’d like to catch myself apologiz- 
ing!” 


139 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Hardly was the exclamation point well 
rounded before Olga took the missive, read 
it laboriously, and said with shy hesitation : 

“I would still he the friend to you. But 
Renka is my cousin. I take this for you now 
because you have no second. You will hear 
much more about it later on.” 

Then to Jean’s surprise the little Russian 
kissed her, and darted off before there was 
time to say a word. 


VIII 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES, BUT HIS SECRET 
IS NOT TOLD 

Indeed Jean did hear a great deal about 
duels both in general and particular, but to 
her dismay nothing that was comforting or 
helpful. Her note of acceptance was scarcely 
gone before she flew up to Parnassus to seek 
her chosen ally. For some reason she had 
not seen Molasses-Head all day, and she was 
both puzzled and wounded at the defection. 

“ Laura,” she burst forth at the door, 
“ Laura, what do you think has happened? 
Those Russians have challenged me to fight 
a duel! You’ve got to be my second and tell 
me how to do it!” 

Laura affected not to hear. She had her 
masquerade costume outspread on the plu- 
meau before her and was deeply engrossed 
in taking it to pieces; while all over the 
room were strewn dresses and underwear, 

141 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


books, photographs and trinkets, so jumbled 
and confused that the sight suggested mov- 
ing day or departure for foreign lands. She 
was also singing to herself a lugubrious 
chant, the words a blending of two lan- 
guages, the tune as doleful as a tune could be. 

“The Spring is da! The Springtime ist 
ge-come! Trala!” 

Jean shivered, for the room was cold, 
Laura’s manner chilling and the ditty far 
from truthful in its statement. She crossed 
the room to stand beside the bed, and after 
a minute she went on, a little subdued : 

“Listen now. Listen to the news. Renka 
and I are going to fight a duel. I don’t know 
with what. Don’t I have the right to choose 
the weapons when I’m the one that got the 
challenge! You are my second, of course, 
and Olga will be Renka ’s, though she really 
thinks I’m right. What ought we to fight 
with, and where ! ’ ’ 

“Pension duels always fight with the same 
thing,” said Laura; then remembering she 
was pretending not to listen she sang aloud : 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES 


“The Springtime ist ge-come! Tra la! Tra 
la!” 

“Doesn’t seem much like it to me,” 
laughed Jean ruefully. “I wish you’d come 
off your high horse and talk to me.” 

“ ‘High horse,’ ” echoed Laura in a dismal 
voice. “What is this thing you call a ‘high 
horse’?” 

“It isn’t nice to remind people of things,” 
said Jean, stung by the other’s seeming in- 
difference to what meant so much to her, 
“but — you’re not always so hard to under- 
stand. When I staid home from the opera 
and you went ” 

Laura gave the long green plume in the 
brigand hat such a vicious jerk that it broke 
off at the base; whereupon she tossed both 
hat and feather from her and jumped 
up to face her accuser with determined 
countenance. 

“You mean to make me feel like — ach, I 
cannot say him in English. You mean you 
take punishment for me, and now I do not 
help you. I take no part in duels, meine 

143 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Liebe. Each girl must promise when she 
come here that she never fight a duel. ’ ’ 

“I didn’t promise,” Jean declared; “I 
never heard of it before.” 

“No, not the American maybe. They think 
if no other will fight then you cannot fight 
alone.” 

“Did Irenka promise?” 

“But surely she gives her honorable word. 
And I, also, never to look on or help. It was 
custom in Villa Elinore to fight the duel, long 
ago. A girl was hurt. Very much in the 
eye exactly. I think she has gone blind.” 

“How terrible!” gasped Jean. “Do they 
fight with swords? Oh, Laura, what can I 
do?” 

Molasses-Head giggled. “No, not swords,” 
she said. “How you are comical! Has the 
American school-girl no duels then? Where 
one is so wild?” 

“We’re not wild at all,” Jean contra- 
dicted. “We play basket ball and tennis, and 
things; but we’d be ashamed to fight.” 

For the first time Laura’s frank criticism 


144 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES 


jarred upon her, and she had the forlorn 
feeling of a stranger in a strange land, on 
the eve of battle and without a single trusty 
friend. Her voice shook as she said : 

“Please don’t argue and fuss at me now! 
I’m so worried! Won’t you be my second 
and tell me what to do?” 

Laura shook her head until the heavy 
braids swung like a pair of pendulums hack 
and forth. “No,” she insisted. “No, meine 
Liebe, I do not help in any duels. That I do 
not do.” 

“Don’t then,” said Jean, and was starting 
away; hut the German caught her by the 
arms, whirled her about, and made a tragic 
effort at justification. 

“I have said the first day I would be your 
friend,” she declared. “I have laid choco- 
lates beneath your pillow. I am very jealous 
of the Shadow. I do all things you wish. I 
am a pleasant girl. Is it not so?” 

The only answer to this was a contemptu- 
ous groan from Jean, so Laura hastened on: 

“It is true that one time you take punish- 


10 


145 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


ment for me; but many times already I am 
disgraced because I am your friend. I say 
your words to make funny for you, and while 
you sit laughing I must write essays and do 
extra practice on the piano. You make winks 

with the eye — like so ” 

For the life of her Jean could not repress 
a smile at the contortions of her accuser’s 
face, but she soon grew grave again. 

“Yes, winks with the eye,” repeated Laura 
in an injured tone. “You make them, not I, 
but it is the unhappy Laura who is sent 
away to sit the half-holiday alone. To-day 
I must move away from you into a new room, 
so that we do not talk so much together. 
See my dresses and my many things ! ’ ’ 

She indicated the confusion of the room, 
and before Jean could speak, she went on, 
still tragic and unappeased: 

“I must go across the hall, in a little lonely 
room, out of Parnassus.” 

Jean pulled herself from the other’s grasp. 
“Well, I don’t see how you can blame me,” 
she said. 


146 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES 

“I don’t,” Laura admitted. “You are 
what you are, and I am my own self. It is 
that I have no big, big will. I am a goosie.” 

Jean laughed. “What a queer mood 
you’re in,” she said. “First you tear me 
to pieces as if you want to eat me; then 
you switch around and call yourself names. 
What’s the matter, Laura! Tell me straight 
now ; what ’s the matter ! ’ ’ 

There was silence for a moment, then 
Laura said : 4 ‘ The piano played music to call 
me to Aunt Lotti, and she has talked with 
me ; oh, so stern she talk with me ! She tell 
me I shall not be so easy to lead. It is not 
because of the disobedience in the Pension, 
she says; it is that each girl must form a 
character. I shall have thoughts in my own 
head, under all this — how do you say — this 
wig!” And she pulled savagely at her 
yellowy-brown wealth of hair, until Jean 
caught her hand and made her stop. 

“Aunt Lotti say I shall think for myself 
and not be always a parrot or a monkey to 
copy someone else. I shall be very, very 
147 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


determined. She has kissed me and remind 
me of my mother at home, who is poor and 
wait for me to be wise and know much music 
that I may teach.” 

“Oh,” said Jean, feeling worse now than 
if Laura had dealt her a physical blow. “I 
never guessed. I never guessed.” 

There was a painful silence, then the Ger- 
man conquered it by her light-hearted laugh. 
“It is not your fault, Shinksy,” she said. 
“It is only that I am a goosie.” 

“You’re not a goosie, and I won’t have you 
say so. Come, Laura, let’s get your things 
all together and move them. Across the hall 
is not so terribly far. That’s one comfort.” 
And she fell to smoothing the broken plume 
on her palm, while her eyes filled with tears. 

Laura laid a caressing hand on her shoul- 
der. “I will tell you everything,” she said. 
“Why should I feel ashamed? It is good 
that you know and then we are better friends 
perhaps. My father is dead and my mother 
is obliged to teach French and German to 
young beginners. She is poor, poor, poor. 

148 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES 


We have no great feasts in our house, 
although we have many hooks to read. The 
Aunts are my real aunts ; they were cousins 
of my father, and therefore without money 
they give me education. Do you not see?” 

“Yes, I see,” said Jean, inwardly bemoan- 
ing the fact that she had not seen some things 
before. This then explained why Laura’s 
belongings were not so pretty or so plentiful 
as those of the other girls! And why she 
was expected to go to concerts that were 
helpful, but not always to the places of mere 
amusement. As she looked up now she dis- 
covered tears in Laura’s eyes to match the 
ones she was trying to hold back, but the 
brave laugh still rang out. 

“I care nothing that the Russians have 
beautiful jewels and dresses,” Molasses- 
Head continued. “I mean to earn many, 
many moneys when I am older.” 

“How are you going to do it?” Jean asked 
her curiously. “Teaching music?” 

“No,” said Laura; “I will be great, great 
actress. I feel it all through my body and 


149 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


my legs and arms, the blood tingling and 
burning to be wonderful on the stage, and 
make the people weep and cry and shout.” 

“ Wouldn’t you rather make them laugh? 
I would, I think.” 

“Not if I can help,” said Laura. “One 
laughs now when I speak; but I wish to 
show love and hate and jealousy and love 
again, but not the funny.” 

While they talked they gathered the heaps 
of clothing into neat order, and began carry- 
ing it to the room across the hall. Coming 
back from one of these trips a little later the 
would-be emotional actress said with a dis- 
contented face: 

“Still I must teach piano until I get on 
the stage. That is why the Aunts take pains 
to have me learn. Aunt Lotti tell me one 
thing very stern to-day. They have no pa- 
tience for me any more. I am not good. If 
I break a rule again — one single little rule — 
they send me home and I cannot come back. 
Then I learn no more music.” 

“That would be terribly mean,” cried 

150 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES 


Jean; “I don’t care if they are kin to you. 
I think that would be selfish to send you home 
just because you aren’t so goody-goody and 
righteous like they are themselves!” 

Laura shrugged her shoulders. “What is 
this you call the goody-goody ! ” she inquired. 
Then without waiting for an explanation she 
went on : “ Ach, if I could go to your country, 
Shinksy ! There I would be happy ! In Ger- 
many one must obey, else one must be pun- 
ished. Maybe it is right. This house is not 
great and holds but few pupils. The Aunts 
also are not rich. Why then should space be 
given for one who is a goosief” 

Before Jean found an answer to this large 
question there was a sound of footsteps on 
the polished floor outside, and the door 
opened to admit Irenka attended by a quar- 
tette of supporters. She made a formal bow 
to Jean. 

“You have your second, I hope?” she 
asked. 

Jean’s mind came back to earth and her 
own problems with a thud. How trivial it 

151 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


all seemed in comparison to what Lanra had 
just told her ! 

“I haven’t any second,” she said, “but 
I won’t need one. We are too old for such 
silly games as duels. I have decided not to 
fight, and anyway, you promised that you 
wouldn’t.” 

Mademoiselle Irene Sophie Nathalie Dag- 
mar Marie did not receive the implied re- 
proach with good grace. She flushed quite 
red. 

“It is nothing to you if I break a prom- 
ise,” she said. “I shall go home at Easter 
and therefore I do not care.” 

“Nobody told me not to fight a duel,” re- 
marked Jean loftily. “If I once gave my 
word I’d keep it no matter what it was.” 

“Then you will fight the duel,” said 
Irenka. “I have your word written on a 
paper. It is a promise.” 

There seemed no way to disprove this, and 
Jean was trapped. She looked the Russian' 
over. How she would like to seize her by 

152 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES 


the aristocratic shoulders and shake her until 
the noble teeth chattered in her haughty 
head! Indeed she would show her she was 
not afraid ! Without further hesitation J ean 
appealed to the girl who was nearest to her: 

“Hedwig, will you be my second V 9 

The German shook her head with apparent 
horror. “Forbid, forbid,’ ’ she answered; and 
Jean went on down the line, for others had 
come in now so that all the older pupils were 
present. 

But alas for poor Jinksy’s complacent 
notion that she was popular! One or two 
tried to convey their sympathy but none had 
courage to take her part with Irenka on the 
other side! With downcast eyes or averted 
face each Madchen declined the invitation to 
be her second, and when she had completed 
the roll call she turned to Irenka. 

“I don’t care if the whole Pension is 
against me,” she said. “You’re the one 
that’s always fussing at us about obedience. 
This is your chance to practise what you 
153 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


preach. If yon want to break your promise 
to the Aunts, I will fight you — all by myself, 
without a second !” 

“It is va-ry goodly,” said Irenka. 

But this was too much for Laura. The 
thought of Jinksy meeting single-handed the 
more experienced Russian in deadly combat 
made her throw all caution to the winds, 
and striking an attitude that for dramatic 
effect might have won her the coveted open- 
ing on the stage, she addressed the meeting : 

“Shame to the Fatherland!” she cried. 
“To think that you call your poor selves 
Germans! I myself shall be the second!” 

“And you shall be sent home in big dis- 
grace,” Irenka warned her, while Jean threw 
both arms about her friend and talked 
hysterically to her: 

“No, meine Liebe,” she said. “I couldn't 
let you! I'll fight without a second. I'm 
not afraid of Russians!” 

Olga began to persuade her cousin in their 
native tongue, the Germans were engaged in 
a deafening discussion of the situation, when 

154 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES 


into the babel walked little Babette without 
the ceremony of knocking to learn if she were 
welcome. 

“Chinsky,” she called, “Chinsky, du 
sollst scbnell kommen,” then trailed off into 
an unintelligible message. 

“Visitor, Shinksy, visitor in the parlor, ’ ’ 
Laura translated, and Jean waited to hear 
no more. The duel was forgotten; only one 
idea possessed her now. Uncle Jasper bad 
arrived at last! A thousand things she 
wished to say crowded into her mind. Ques- 
tions about Ned jostled questions about 
Polly and Paul. Panting, her cheeks flushed 
to a rich pink, she ran along the halls, past 
school-rooms and study alcoves, and flung 
herself into the apartment set aside for 
guests. 

“Oh, Uncle Jasper,” she cried, “I’m so 
glad you’ve come, and what made you go 
ashore and leave me and get left behind?” 

The little red-haired gentleman kissed her, 
then held her at arm’s length to examine the 
color in her face and the sparkle of her eyes. 

155 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


But she was already strangling him in a 
second hug and he had to fight her off. 

“You are another girl,” he said. “I knew 
it was travel you needed, and there are re- 
sults even in this short time.” 

“Maybe it seemed a short time to you,” 
sniffed his niece, sitting down on a chair as 
close to his as she could put it, and clinging 
to his hand. “Maybe you were having lots 
of fun. How is Ned and does he think he’ll 
get on the football team? What’s Paul 
Martin decided to do? Shadow wrote me you 
went all the way back home. Did you, uncle ? 
And what for?” 

“Rosebud, Rosebud,” laughed Mr. Rose. 
“You haven’t let your tongue get rusty in 
your native language. So many questions 
all in one breath ! Ned is well, and sends you 
a token of his regard.” 

“How’s Mammy?” Jean wanted next to 
know. 

“Your old nurse says to bring you home. 
She thinks you have education enough 
already.” 


156 


UNCLE JASPER COMES AND GOES 


‘ * And what made you get left behind?” 

Her uncle ’g face grew grave. “I can’t 
explain now, Rosebud,” he said. “ Don’t be 
too disappointed. This is only a flying visit. 
I have an important engagement in Berlin 
to-morrow, and I’ve got to make the train — 
right now.” He took out his watch, looked 
at it and got up from the chair. 

Jean hung on his arm and rubbed her 
cheek against his coat. “ Uncle Jasper,” she 
said in her most wheedling voice, “take me 
to Berlin with you, like a darling! You say 
travel does such wonders and I have studied 
hard; you can ask Mr. Davis or the funny 
Dutchy lady I take German grammar from. 
I really deserve a holiday. ’ ’ 

He hesitated, then shook his head. 

“I can’t this time,” he told her. “I’ll 
be busy every minute with the man I want to 
see.” 

Still Jean would not let go. “You will be 
sorry,” she said. “Something dreadful is 
going to happen if you leave me here.” 

“What sort of something?” 

157 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“Something dreadful. You don’t believe 
me, but it’s true. You’ll be sorry. Oh, it’s 
such a comfort just to talk straight ahead 
whatever you think, and not feel like a dog 
because somebody is learning slang from you. 
Please tell me the secret before you go. You 
ought to do that much. I can’t sleep at night 
for wondering what you went back South to 
get.” 

Mr. Rose snatched another glance at his 
watch and pushed her away in earnest, 

“I’ve got to go,” he said, reaching for his 
hat. “I’ll be back next week, and then I’ll 
tell you everything. Good-bye till then. Be 
good.” 

She ran after him to the door. “Take me 
with you, uncle,” she begged. If he had 
looked around he would have seen that her 
eyes were full of tears ; but he was half way 
down the walk, and it was in the dark hour 
of what came later that he remembered her 
plea to be taken away. 


IX 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED WHILE WITNESSING 
THE DUEL 

Meanwhile Laura with Hannchen \s help 
had moved her things to the single room, 
and without any help at all had completed 
arrangements for the duel, even going so 
far as to rummage her principal’s domain for 
a silk bathing suit she had seen when unpack- 
ing Jean’s trunks some weeks before. She 
put full value on Aunt Lotti’s warning that 
one further breach would send her home, and 
she gave due consideration to her mother’s 
sadness when that disgrace should fall; but 
to Laura ’s loyal heart friendship came before 
all else. Jean was her friend. Jean needed 
her. And there was nothing more to be 
debated. 

It was a sign of the trust placed in Irenka 
that the Fraulein Evertz deemed it unneces- 
sary to have an older person sleep on the 
floor where the dormitories were. The apart- 
159 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


ments of Aunt Annya and Aunt Minni were 
below, and the invalid had her Fairy Attic, 
toward which all noises rose in a very un- 
fairylike manner at times. 

Thought of Aunt Lotti’s suffering had 
served often and often to soften angry voices 
and to check boisterous play; and had she 
been in her place on that Wednesday evening 
things would have turned out differently. 
But as chance would have it she was still ex- 
ulting in a respite from pain, and had gone to 
pay a long-promised visit to Fritz’s parents. 

The other Aunts had to keep an appoint- 
ment which they found irksome but saw no 
proper way of breaking; and they went off 
after supper, leaving the bonne in command, 
with directions that the household should go 
early to bed to rest from recent dissipation. 
The French girl was more fatigued than any 
of her charges, and after sitting through a 
miserable hour of yawns and nods, while 
phlegmatic Hedwig droned aloud from a dull 
book, she wished them pleasant slumbers and 
went off to her own. 


160 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 


Slumber was the thought farthest from the 
girls who went up the steps in twos and 
threes, whispering and hurrying so as to lose 
no minute of the advantage thus unexpectedly 
offered their dangerous undertaking. They 
were all there except Babette, and each was 
required to promise that she would not cry out 
no matter what awful catastrophe should hap- 
pen before her eyes. Laura took Jean across 
the hall, the Russians retired to another room, 
and the spectators settled down to wait. 

“I think you ought to back out yet,” Jean 
said anxiously to her second who was trying 
the elastic in the bathing suit. “It’s just 
too lovely of you, Laura, but I’m not afraid. 
Really I’m not.” 

“You shall undress,” the second instructed 
without taking any notice of her dismissal 
from office. “Put on all this garment of 
which I do not know the name. It is right 
for duels, meine Shinksy. I go to see the 
others, but I return immediately.” 

Across in Parnassus she found Elsa, Lili 
and Eugenie, wrapped about with dressing 
161 


11 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


gowns of eider-down, cuddled in the feather 
plumeau, and eating bonbons with great 
gusto. Hedwig, who detested water like a 
cat, had caught a glimpse of the weapons and 
opened an umbrella over her corner of the 
bed. Hannchen, being possessed of a dim 
notion that Jean was held prisoner by some 
enemy, ran to and fro, alternately whimper- 
ing and scolding, holding in her hot hands 
a candy motto which was to assure her idol 
that the giver’s heart was even hotter. She 
was finally coaxed to the bed by the privilege 
of guarding Jean’s shoes, and then she 
calmed down and absent-mindedly licked off 
the burning verse herself. 

There was beginning to be some grumbling 
at the slowness of the performance when the 
door opened and the Russian camp appeared. 
Irenka was a thing of loveliness to gaze upon. 
She wore a rubber coat which, borrowed from 
her cousin, was short enough to leave her 
legs free below the knees, her stockings were 
delicate blue silk, and with disdainful refusal 
of the knitted bedroom slippers Olga sug- 
162 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 


gested, she had finished her fighting gear with 
a pair of exquisite gold dancing slippers, for 
Mademoiselle d’Owoski was vain of her slim 
feet and could not resist such an opportunity 
to show them. Her masses of dark hair she 
had wound in braided coils close to her head, 
tying a scarf over it and gathering the ends 
into a ravishing bow beneath one ear. 

“Wonderful!” cried Laura in mock ad- 
miration. Then she walked three times 
around Irenka, viewing her from every angle 
and taking in the neatness of the headdress 
and the brevity of the raincoat, and finishing 
with a wink first of one eye and then the 
other, as she had seen Jean do. 

Meanwhile Jean herself stood before the 
mirror, looking critically at her slender 
figure in the black silk bathing suit, which 
was a relic of a previous summer at the 
Jersey shore. So absorbed was she that she 
did not hear Laura enter, and she jumped 
nervously at her second’s touch upon her 
arm and the sound of her voice : 

“The water is all ready, meine Liebe, in 

163 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


two pails each with a sponge. It is like ice, 
that water. Yon shall choose the pail nearest 
the door because they have put more in that. 
You shall not get sorry for Irenka but be 
very angry and soak it to her! That is a 
nice English and I learn it from a Davis boy. 
Give her what you call the wash!” 

‘ ‘ Laura !” Jean’s voice was grave, and 
the face she turned had paled to a lily white. 

“Laura,” she said, “if I should be if 

anything should happen You know what 

I mean You tell Uncle Jasper I thought 

of him and how good he is, and tell him to 
tell Ned ” 

Molasses-Head threw both arms about her 
and nearly choked her with a hug. Then 
she danced up and down in an ecstasy of 
amusement. “Ah, how you are comical!” 
she exulted. “What could happen but that 
you get a wash*? That is the worst. And 
that I am sent home to my poor mother . 9 9 

“Don’t you be my second,” urged Jean. 
“Please don’t. You stay in here and go to 
bed.” 


164 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 


Laura put her hands on Jean’s shoulders 
and looked into the clear brown eyes. “What 
would the Shadow do?” she inquired. 
“What would that Polly Shadow do? Is she 
a better friend than I?” 

“Where is that Jean?” came in impatient 
reminder from the hall outside, and with a 
final squeeze of each other’s hand the 
American camp hastened to the scene of the 
coming conflict. 

The rugs had been removed and the floor 
of Parnassus was as smooth as glass. Each 
night table had received a long new candle 
that morning, and the lights being ex- 
tinguished at the meter below, these ten 
tapers were now arranged in pairs about the 
room, making little circles of illumination at 
intervals and leaving the real duel ground 
in rather dismal gloom. 

Irenka, in an attitude of imposing dignity, 
waited until the pair appeared at the door- 
sill, then advanced to meet her adversary, 
and Jean, looking very fair and pretty and 
not to be outdone in graciousness by any liv- 

165 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


ing Russian, offered her hand as loftily as a 
queen bestowing the mightiest of honors. 
They measured each other for a moment, but 
there was no word spoken to mar the sol- 
emnity of the occasion until Laura sought 
to spur them on. 

“Ach du Liebe lawsy-mussy me!” she 
groaned. “How they make slow, and the 
Aunts will soon be home again.” 

She gave Jean’s rubber cap an extra 
twitch to see if it were fast, then said: “That 
pail’s yours, meine Shinksy. I think they 
have put you too far from your chair, more 
far than Irenka.” 

“No,” Olga contradicted. “I pace the dis- 
tance for my cousin, and you, Laura, pace 
for your girl. You have longer in the leg 
than I and it make her pail more far away.” 

The distance was corrected and somebody 
in a spasm of justice added water to the pail 
which was lacking. The combatants stood 
three yards apart, each with a long piece of 
twine tied about her right wrist and dangling 
a great sponge from its farther end, the 
166 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 


battle being to wet the enemy with the 
sponges. 

Twice before in the history of the Pension 
had Parnassns witnessed the duel with 
sponge and water, but never such a fierce and 
splashy fight as this, which was destined to 
go into school tradition as the worst and last. 
More than once Jean was obliged to gasp for 
breath; still her pride and pluck kept her 
upright, struggling and wheezing, determined 
to drown rather than to cry for mercy. Back 
and forth the dripping missiles flew, carrying 
a shower bath in each flight ; sometimes strik- 
ing plump into the Russian’s eyes, at others 
crushing against Jean’s set mouth, sousing 
Laura’s pink kimono as she refilled a pail 
from to-morrow’s bathing water or slap- 
ping the terrified Olga with such force upon 
the cheek that she retired in tears and re- 
fused to be a second any longer even under 
penalty of her cousin’s wrath. Drops pat- 
tered merrily upon Hedwig’s umbrella, and 
other drops put out several of the candles, 
but no one noticed that the light had waned. 

167 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


By all the rules known to any code of 
honor the encounter should have ceased with 
the emptying of the pails ; but both American 
and Russian blood was roused, there was a 
long score to settle, and the two fought on, 
regardless of time and place, heedless of both 
cheers and lamentations from the balcony. 
One second had resigned from office, and the 
other, instead of calling a halt, helped on the 
battle by bringing pitcher after pitcher of 
icy ammunition and filling both pails im- 
partially. 

Even the onlookers had need for all their 
spryness, and there was much dodging and 
wriggling as a shot went astray now and 
then, landing on Lili, or in the shoes which 
faithful Hannchen gripped tight to her heart. 
Not one of the ten girls could have guessed 
how much time had flown when Irenka’s 
golden slippers turned the tide of war at 
last. 

It was a tide in its most literal and wettest 
sense. The Russian, twisting an ankle on 
her absurdly high heel, slid along the polished 
168 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 


floor to her foe’s very feet, where she fell, 
clutching wildly as she went down and bring- 
ing upon herself the chair and the newly 
replenished pail. Jean too was jerked into 
the puddle, lost her cap and felt the chilly 
water reach her face and neck and scalp. 
Laura’s voice rang out in a shout of victory, 
of which no word was intelligible even had 
anyone been listening. 

Elsa and Eugenie scrambled from their 
cramped positions, Hedwig closed her um- 
brella with a yawn of relief that all was 
over and she herself still dry, and Hannchen, 
seeing only that her beloved was on the floor, 
fired both Jean’s shoes across the room with 
all the strength she had, in a hope of hitting 
the enemy, whoever the enemy might be ! One 
boot landed neatly over the last remaining 
candle, extinguished it, and plunged the place 
in darkness; the other, clearing the heads 
of all the girls, struck against the breast of 
a newcomer whose arrival at the threshold 
had been too quiet to be observed in such a 
din. 


169 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“Get a light, can’t you?” cried a voice in 
German to nobody in particular, while 
another voice chimed in : 

“Where ist my Shinksy ge-f alien? Where 
are you then, my friend?” 

“Come in, the water’s fine,” Jean an- 
swered, gurgling and trying to laugh at the 
same time. 

Then a light glimmered from the door 
and Louise, the maid, became visible, putting 
a match to her own candle and staring with 
wide eyes at the havoc in Parnassus. When 
she made out Jean’s wet figure, huddled on 
the floor, she ran to her and lent aid to 
Laura and Elsa to get the American up, 
talking vehemently the while. Irenka also 
struggled to rise, but her face was puckered 
with pain, and she had to hold to Olga in 
order to limp as far as the bed, where she 
sank down and groaned : 

“It’s my foot, it’s my foot. I have 
sprained the ankle, I think. Why does every- 
one go to help the American? I got her upon 
the ground and that is victory for me.” 

170 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 


Olga’s face took on an expression of ob- 
stinacy. She began rubbing the ankle which 
was already swelling, but after a moment she 
said: 4 ‘We cannot quarrel, Renka, because 
we are of the same blood and a Russian 
never deserts his kinsman. Truly also I am 
sorry you have pain. But you did not win 
a victory and I shall never say so.” 

“You will obey me,” Irenka ordered. “It 
is right you uphold me in whatever I say 
and do.” 

“No,” repeated Olga, developing courage 
as the necessity required, and speaking in 
their native tongue so that there was no 
chance of the others understanding, “I have 
obeyed every word you say since the day I 
came to Elinore, because you are eldest girl 
and that is right. But all is changed. You 
yourself have disobeyed. You have not kept 
a promise. No longer does your word count 
with me. No more am I your admirer.” 

While Irenka swallowed the first bitter 
fruit of her wrongdoing, Jean was standing 
in the middle of the floor, dazed, sick, un- 


171 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


certain as to what came next or why Louise 
was chafing her arms and shedding hot tears 
on them. She was dripping wet, and she 
shivered from the cold although her throat 
seemed parched, but she was not yet done 
with the immovable tradition of the duel. 
Two girls took place beside her while two 
more dragged Irenka, weak and limping, to 
yield up her weapon. 

The unfortunate Russian glanced about the 
group and saw no face that offered sympathy 
or that was cowed by her authority. So 
she tendered her sponge with lowered eyes, 
but Jean waved her back, making a gesture 
that would have been magnificent had it not 
been so pitifully forced. 

“Keep it,” she said, her teeth chattering 
so that the words were hardly understood. 
“The pleasure was all mine.” 

“It is that you must take it,” grumbled 
Laura, who being in the forbidden duel meant 
to extract its last drop of fun. “You have 
now the right to wash her face — with soap. 
Be quick, Shinksy, that we may laugh.” 

172 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 


“I carCt,” began Jean, and Louise came 
unexpectedly to her assistance. 

“Get the poor child into her bed,” she 
urged, speaking German and using her hands 
as rapidly as her tongue. “She will be very 
ill. Ach, I feel that she will be ill. And all 
my fault. Ach, lieber Himmel, it is all my 
fault ! ’ ’ 

“Why do you say that?” demanded Laura, 
scenting some real reason for this remorse 
and secure in the knowledge that Jean could 
not follow the flood of Louise’s speech. “Tell 
me what you mean.” She drew the maid 
into the hall, where they talked together for 
several minutes in an animated undertone, 
then Molasses-Head ran back to Parnassus. 

“Shinksy,” she cried, “my Shinksy, we 
have made great error. It is this Louise 
who has seen us in the cake-house, passed 
us on the bridge — with her head tied up, 
like so — and it was she who have telled the 
Aunts! Ach, she weeps with sorrow that 
she make trouble for you. She say you smile 
always at her and give her a ribbon to wear. 

173 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 

She have not mean to tell, but it slip out!” 

Jean stared at the bearer of this news. 
“And the Baron,” she said slowly, “and 
Nicholas d’Owoski! Oh, I’ll neveli.learn to 
think ! Oh, I ’ll never learn to hold my foolish 
tongue!” 

The other girls had made short work of 4 
restoring Parnassus to its customary neat- 
ness. The pails had vanished, the sponges 
lay innocently atop the pitchers, even the 
rugs were back in place. No% suddenly Hed- 
wig sounded an alarm: 

“Hist!” she said between her teeth, “Aunt 
Minni comes ! The Aunts ! The Aunts ! ’ ’ 

Each one scurried off to her own bed. Jean 
got her nightdress on, bundled the clammy 
bathing suit out of sight inside her night- 
table, and before long the place was quiet save 
for occasional faint moans, now from Irenka’s 
comer and now from the one opposite. 

It was these moans that gave the whole 
thing away, for keen-eared Aunt Minni 
heard them and went up to investigate their 
cause. The small rooms were quiet, their 
174 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 

occupants sleeping like innocent babies after 
play; but across Laura’s chair hung a pink 
kimono showing stains of deeper red where 
the water had not yet entirely dried. All 
the pitchers were empty, as the old lady was 
shrewd enough to notice and to interpret, 
and in the hall she came upon a bathing 
cap which someone must have let fall in her 
flight. 

In Parnassus Hannchen seemed acquitted 
by the regularity of her breathing. Hedwig, 
in Laura’s old place, bore the candle’s flicker 
without a flutter of the eyelids ; but as Frau- 
lein Minni stood hesitating between the two 
remaining corners, she caught a gasp that 
decided her, and next instant she was bend- 
ing over Jean. 

The girl was sleeping uneasily, both arms 
outside the covers, her lips parted and her 
face burning with the flush of fever. Her 
hair, usually waving in bright curls about 
her brow, looked dark now and clung so flat 
against her head that Aunt Minni touched 
it and found that it was wet. For a flash 


175 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


the va-ry cross Aunt was angry but her dis- 
pleasure soon lost itself in solicitude, and 
after a skilful examination of the hands and 
forehead, she was starting away to bring a 
thermometer and a case of simple remedies 
when she saw Irenka awake and sitting up- 
right in bed. 

“ Softly, softly,” she warned the white 
figure, not noticing the drawn mouth and the 
pain in the girl’s eyes. “You may help me, 
Renka, if you will kindly do so. Put on your 
warm robe, my child, and come to speak 
English for me. Jean is ill, I fear.” 

Irenka hesitated, then as the anxious face 
bent once more over Jean, she slipped her 
feet into the furred slippers from the table, 
drew a quilted satin gown about her shoul- 
ders, and hobbled across the floor. But when 
she tried by force of habit to make the Knix, 
she had to clutch at the foot-rail of the bed, 
a white and suffering picture of endurance. 

“You can help better another way,” said 
Fraulein Evertz without looking up. ‘ ‘ Please 
go and waken Louise, and do not disturb 
176 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 

any one else. Tell her to get ready boiling 
water, and by that time I shall wish her to 
come here.” 

Irenka started on the errand, clinching her 
teeth to check an outcry, but the first pres- 
sure on her ankle wrung a sob from her in 
spite of brave effort to keep it back; next 
moment she would have fallen had not Aunt 
Minni hurried to put a steadying arm about 
her. When this second patient was on the 
bed and in response to a demand as to what 
hurt her had stretched out the aching foot, 
her teacher gave another proof of the trust 
placed in the eldest pupil by not connecting 
her wrongly with last night’s mischief. 

“Renka, Renka,” the old lady said, “it is 
all clear to me, and you need not speak. 
There was a sponge duel fought in this room 
last night. I know who the guilty ones have 
been, — the American, because she is wet and 
ill, and Laura, because her robe is also not 
dry. You have tried in vain to stop them. 
We were not at home. You have tried to 
stop them and have been hurt.” 

177 


12 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


The foot she was rubbing jerked almost 
from her grasp, but she attributed the move- 
ment to a twinge of pain instead of to a 
conscience that was tempted. 

“Ah,” she said sympathetically, “that is 
very bad, but hot water will make it better. 
I go to see to it. Yes, I know all. Laura 
has bought sponges when in town yesterday 
with me. She and Jean have quarrelled and 
they have fought the forbidden duel. Is it 
not so?” 

Friiulein Evertz paused only a moment for 
reply, and Irenka remained silent. The one 
thing the Russian felt no courage for was 
loss of her prestige and the admiration she 
coveted. In the hour of her passion against 
Jean she had failed to remember that this 
would surely follow when she broke her 
word ; but now it came to her with such over- 
whelming force that she could not bring her- 
self to say the words that would change 
Aunt Minni’s tenderness to blame. Quickly 
she ran her mind over the probability of 
someone else betraying her. The chances 


178 


PARNASSUS IS DRENCHED 


seemed to be in her favor. She was so sure 
of her dominion over her mates that she 
did not believe one of them would dare to 
tell. She was to leave at Easter anyway. 
She could hold the girls in check till then 
and get away without disgrace. So she kept 
silent and let the precious moment slip. 

The patient in the opposite corner began 
to talk incoherently and Fraulein Minni 
hurried off to find Louise, see to the hot 
water, and make sure that the little room 
reserved for illness was ready. Then while 
Irenka lay wide awake and miserable, Jean 
was borne away, half led and half carried, 
and the doctor was summoned from the town. 


X 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE, ANOTHER IN BED, AND A 
HOUSEHOLD IN SUSPENSE 

From the first Jean’s danger was serious 
indeed. The doctor, coming through the 
morning dusk to answer Fraulein Minni’s 
urgent call, shook his head and set the old 
lady’s heart to beating with the dread word 
that was the German for pneumonia. He 
advised sending for any relatives the girl 
might have, so Mr. Rose was summoned from 
Berlin and took up his post beside the bed, 
refusing to go away. 

His presence there was so inconvenient 
that the doctor bluntly told him, but 
neither commands nor argument could move 
him, until Jean herself, divining in some way 
her uncle’s trouble, made it clear that she 
wished to speak. The withered old gentle- 
man, reproaching himself that he had not 
taken her with him as she had begged, bent 
over her, unconscious of the trembling of his 
180 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


ehin, which the thin red beard did not alto- 
gether hide, and touched her hair with his 
forefinger. 

“You do want me here?” he whispered 
piteously. ‘ ‘ Don ’t talk. Don ’ t you try to talk, 
but just look as if you want me, and I’ll 
know. I’ll know, little Lucy.” 

He had used the name which her mother 
bore in the long ago, and though he did not 
notice the slip Jean did with a tightening 
of the heart. Her childhood had been so 
empty of the ties of kinship, her father’s 
death had left her so bereft of intimate affec- 
tions, that she gave to her uncle and her 
cousin all the pent-up love of a warm and 
ardent nature. Probably Mr. Jasper Rose 
had never understood this in its fullest sense 
till now, when with great effort she got his 
hand into her own and pressed it against her 
cheek. Many and many a time he had ac- 
cepted her caresses and returned them, too, 
after his stiff and funny fashion; but no 
ticklish kiss between the eyebrows could have 
caused his pulse to throb as did this feeble 
181 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


little gesture, and there was a catch in his 
voice when he spoke again : 

‘ ‘ Rosebud, Rosebud, ” he implored, 
4 4 promise me you’ll get well. Say that 

you’re not going to Say that you’ll 

get well, my baby.” 

Her smile, though fleeting, held a touch of 
balm for IJncle Jasper, and she managed to 
say between coughs: 

“Of course! I’m almost well already, I 
reckon, — dare say and wis.” 

The attempt at the old joke of the 
synonyms trailed off into a hoarse laugh, 
and her uncle said in great distress: 

“Don’t talk, Rosebud. Don’t try to 
speak.” 

“I must,” she persisted; “I’ve got to tell 
you about one thing, before I can let go and 
be sick in peace. Oh, Uncle Jasper, I’m so 
worried about Laura.” And in broken sen- 
tences she related the story of the duel, and 
the part each girl had taken in it, winding 
up with the wistful question : 

“Was it wrong for Laura, when she did 


182 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


it for my sake? Because slie was my friend ?” 

“No, Jean,” he told her. “No, dear, I 
can’t believe that it was wrong.” 

“But they are going to punish her!” she 
urged. “I know their strict old ways, trying 
to make school-girls like soldiers!” 

“Don’t talk,” begged Uncle Jasper. “If 
you love me don’t talk about it now!” 

“You go to the Aunts — and tell them Laura 
tried to make me stop. I have so much on 
my poor little conscience! I insulted the 
Baron, and I was rude to Renka’s brother. 
If they send Laura home — when it was my 
fault — oh, uncle, can’t you see? Can’t you 
see how wicked I feel?” 

“They shan’t send her home,” said Uncle 
Jasper fiercely. “ I will see the Baron. I 
will see young d’Owoski. Don’t you think of 
them another minute.” 

He was turning away, hut once more she 
stopped him. “And— write to Ned,” she or- 
dered. “Heaps of letters— so he won’t— 
worry. Tell Ned— I soaked — that Russian.” 

vSo Mr. Rose sought the Fraulein Evertz 
183 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


and found them all three holding solemn 
conclave about the very matter of the duel. 
Because he was Jean’s uncle they welcomed 
his addition to the party, and when he had 
delivered the sick girl’s message Aunt Annya 
exclaimed : 

“But the fight has been with Laura! Can 
the child be delirious that she should say — 
what was that word? — she soaked a Russian? 
Laura Luther is a German.” 

“Jean is not at all delirious,” the visitor 
assured them. ‘ ‘ Her mind is singularly clear. 
She frets because Laura has been drawn 
innocently into this affair, and I wish to say 
that she must not be punished.” 

Aunt Lotti shook her head and gave her 
shoulders their stubborn twist. 

“Discipline must be maintained for the 
sake of building character, ’ ’ she said. 1 1 Even 
if Laura has not fought in this foolish duel, 
she has been present and has broken her 
promise. I hold to the thing I myself have 
told her not a week ago ; if she disobey once 
184 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


more she will be sent home. It is for her 
good.” 

“I never would have believed you could 
he so hard,” said Mr. Rose, regarding the 
youngest sister in astonishment, for he had 
been in the Fairy Attic in days gone by, 
and had judged the invalid’s nature by the 
delicacy of her surroundings. 

At this juncture Aunt Minni, rendered 
helpless by her lack of English, addressed 
her sisters in a rapid flow of German, and 
Aunt Annya answered first, then translated : 

“My_ sister thinks Jean is so hot of head 
and so true of heart she would say anything 
to spare her friend. She is fond of Laura. 
She even bore a punishment once in her 
stead.” 

“Call all the other girls,” said Uncle 
Jasper. “You will find that Jean has told 
the truth. The girl you call Irenka is the 
second duellist.” 

“I do not so much care about the duel,” 
said Aunt Annya in a troubled voice. “It is 

185 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


a matter of truth or lies. Irenka d’Owoski 
has been with us four years, and she too 
has always spoken truth. She expects to go 
home at Easter, but I cannot willingly send 
her if there is this flaw. She has as good as 
told to Minni that she hurt her ankle trying 
to stop the others.” 

4 ‘Ah, she was hurt then!” said Mr. Rose 
triumphantly. But his satisfaction died in 
recollection of a more vital sorrow than the 
question of Irenka ’s falsehood. 

“Nothing matters now but to get Jean 
well,” he said. “The doctor tells me there 
is hope; but she must be kept contented. 
She must not worry. I insist on being able 
to comfort her about Laura. You must allow 
this. You must promise not to send her 
away. I will pay for her myself. I will ” 

“You entirely misunderstand,” inter- 
rupted Fraulein Lotti. “It is not a ques- 
tion of money so much as of teaching Laura 
— our cousin’s child — that authority must be 
recognized. ’ ’ 

“Put yourself in that sick child’s place,” 

18G 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


Mr. Rose pleaded. “She tortures herself 
with reproach. Have you never done wrong 
to a friend — a near relative perhaps — that 
you cannot pity Jean! There is no pain a 
human being can undergo that hurts like 
bringing suffering to a person he loves. You 
shall not make Jean suffer that. You 
shan’t.” 

He paused to look at the three faces in 
turn, and what he saw there changed his 
voice from its defiant note to one of warmth. 

“You agree with me,” he said. “I know 
by the tears on your lashes, — yes, all three 
of you. You won’t punish Laura. I may 
tell Jean it is all right.” 

“We will do nothing until Easter,” Aunt 
Annya promised. “Will that do!” 

And Uncle Jasper, wincing as he realized 
what might happen in the weeks before 
Easter came, was obliged to be content with 
that. He stole into the sick-room to assure 
Jean that all was settled and then went 
off to write to Ned, who being possessed of 
a fair share of the family impetuosity, was 
187 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


likely to take the first steamer over unless 
headed off by cheerful tidings. 

At the door of his hotel he encountered a 
University student going out, and after a 
glance at the crimson cap would have passed, 
hut the younger man stopped him. 

“You are Mr. Rose?” he asked in a pleas- 
ant and cultivated voice; then without wait- 
ing for the reply, he continued: “I am 
Nicholas d’Owoski. I am here to offer my 
services, if I can help, and to make 
apology ” 

“Come up to my room,” said Mr. Rose 
and showed him the way. When they were 
inside the private parlor the Russian held out 
his hand with a manly gesture. 

“I have much to blame myself for,” he 
said. “I knew your niece by sight and she 
did not know me. I teased her and gave her 
a fright. I hope you forgive me, but I shall 
never forgive myself if she should, if she 
should ” 

“She shan’t We mustn’t let her ” 

stammered Uncle Jasper, and with the hand- 


188 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


clasp over this common sorrow and common 
hope, there was sealed a friendship and 
respect that was to last a lifetime. 

The young man hurried off to find the 
Baron and get a message that would quiet 
Jean on one score and the older one turned 
to his desk; but his mind was not on the 
words he wrote to Ned, and as he signed his 
name he said to himself : 

“Poor child, poor Lucy’s little girl! It’s 
good for her to make all the friends she can, 
and this seems a clean, straightforward fel- 
low. If only I hadn’t had that attack in New 
York! If only the Berlin doctor thought 
the trouble was over! How can I ever tell 
her?” 

Notwithstanding the promise to take no 
steps till Easter, there were interviews in 
the Pension office, during which Irenka main- 
tained a sullen silence, Laura was too tearful 
to take in what they were trying to discover 
— being absorbed in Jean’s danger instead 
of in the duel — and half a dozen other wit- 
nesses gave evasive answers to all questions. 

189 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


It was not until they reached stupid little 
Hannchen that the truth came out in all 
its detail, and her positive description of 
Irenka’s costume, silk stockings, gold slip- 
pers and all, convinced the jury that the 
eldest pupil was guilty. Then there was 
much correspondence between Aunt Annya 
and the Russian’s noble father, and in due 
time it became known throughout the Villa 
that Laura, going home for the Easter holi- 
days, would never come back and that 
Irenka, instead* of entering then upon the 
life she looked forward to in St. Petersburg, 
was to spend another term in school. Lesser 
punishments were meted out to the lesser 
offenders, no one of whom was likely to 
forget the duel and its results. 

These matters were not carried to the sick- 
room. Indeed, Jean had no visitors now. 
The Sister of Mercy who was her nurse 
watched her with tender care and the crusty 
old doctor’s eyes often blurred behind their 
glasses at the girl’s attempts to smile when 
every breath was pain and every moment 

190 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


weariness. Jean was fighting for life itself, 
and there was no way to guess what the 
end might be. The chances fluctuated, some- 
times in her favor, again so much against her 
that they wondered she had strength to keep 
up the struggle. 

Sometimes she begged for her colored 
mammy, talking negro dialect and breaking 
off perhaps to recite the list of synonyms for 
“ reckon.’ ’ Then she would speak to Paul 
and Polly Martin, laughing as she told them 
about the duel and how she had soaked the 
Russian. Sometimes she begged Uncle 
Jasper to tell her what the secret was that 
had kept him in America ; but when he tried 
to make her understand she grew delirious 
and said: 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t polite to that squint- 
eyed old Baron. But what makes him so 
fat?” 

“Don’t worry, Rosebud, ’’her uncle soothed 
her. “I saw the Baron and it’s all right.” 

“It wasn’t a Baron,” she contradicted. 
“It was Nicholas d’Owoski. I wish he would 


191 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


kiss my hand. Ned wouldn’t kiss my hand, 
you know.” 

“Ned shall kiss your hand if you want 
him to,” said poor Uncle Jasper, as the 
sister of mercy motioned him to go away. 

One day she came out of a fitful sleep 
quite clear in mind and with a question she 
was eager to put. 

“Where is Laura?” she demanded. Then 
without waiting for an answer she went on, 
her voice so hoarse and muffled she hardly 
recognized it for her own: “Tell them — I 
say — let her come here.” 

So the order was given and Laura crept 
tremblingly in where the wintry sunshine 
streamed through the high windows and her 
friend lay unreal and white upon the pil- 
lows; but already Jean had lost the slight 
hold on actualities and mistook Molasses- 
Head for Polly. 

“Shadow,” she said, “there’s only one 
nice girl in Germany and she is ” 

“What ?” Laura begged, hoping that 

her own name would he the finish of the 


192 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


sentence. 4 4 Tell Shadow. What, meine 
Shinksy? Say what quickly.’ ’ 

“Pooh!” said Jean, instead of giving the 
desired reply, 4 4 I’m not afraid of Russians!” 

The visitor knelt down by the bed and 
buried her eyes in the covers, sobbing to 
herself that she was to blame and that if 
she had had a stronger will — as Aunt Lotti 
warned her — she might have found some way 
to prevent the duel and this catastrophe. 
She lifted her head a moment later, for Jean 
was trying to sing, and the quaint melody 
struck the German as both beautiful and sad. 

My fairy Rose dwells in the Park, 

My Rose, my Rose ; 

At evening time, when falls the dark, 
My Rose, my Rose ; 

The words quavered off into rusty croak- 
ing, but Jean would not give up: 

She changes to a firefly, 

And lights our dreams as they flit by, 

My Dixie Rose. 


13 


193 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 

“ That’s my very own lullaby,” she ended. 
4 ‘I’m going to sing it to the Baron if he 
squints at me.” 

“Ach,” cried Laura under her breath, bit- 
ing her lips to keep back the sobs, for she 
was to be banished at the first sign of tears, 
“Ach, what can I do! What can I do to 
make my Shinksy well!” 

“You can say lawsy-mussy-me, you no 
’count, lazy, triflin’ thing,” the voice from the 
bed said, then added anxiously as the nurse 
led the visitor away : “ I know you ’re Laura ! 
Don’t you let ’em send you home!” 

Downstairs the days went by seemingly as 
they had gone before, full of study and work 
and play; yet they were far from being the 
same. From Aunt Lotti in the Fairy Attic 
down to the cook in the basement kitchen, no 
one could have explained why this illness 
should cause such personal anxiety. Many 
of the girls were pretty; most of them were 
bright and clever at their lessons, as well as 
kind and sweet; but it came out now that 
Jean had been more than this. It came to 


194 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


light little by little that she had flitted daily 
through the Villa from top to bottom, laugh- 
ing and hugging when at a loss for German 
words, bestowing bits of her embroidery here 
and the best of her bonbons there, worming 
everybody’s secrets from them to give a word 
of cheer in return, and displaying pictures 
of her home and her friends to create ohs 
and ahs of interest. The truth was that 
everybody loved Jean and everybody missed 
her, which is a much more active form of 
sympathy than merely hearing with polite 
regret that a stranger is ill and suffering. 

Even Babette learned to tiptoe through the 
halls; Louise, feeling that if she were not 
actually to blame she had at least done Jean 
a mean turn by telling of her escapade, pol- 
ished the sick girl’s entire outfit of shoes 
until they shone again and then dropped 
tears on them until the shine was spotted; 
and Hannchen gathered Jean’s books to- 
gether, blubbering so pathetically over them 
that Aunt Minni allowed her to keep “Lorna 
Doone,” so that she sat thereafter in study 

195 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


hour with that English classic upside-down 
before her face. 

April had come and the garden of Villa 
Elinore was very lovely at this season. It 
was deep and narrow, shut in on three sides 
by a stone wall whose cracks furnished lodg- 
ing for dozens of white snails, while the 
strawberry and currant bushes supplied 
them with sumptuous feasts. The fruit trees 
hung masses of white blossom overhead; 
beds of tulips, hyacinths and daisies added a 
touch of color to the fresh green of the grass. 
Chairs and tables were placed about at in- 
tervals, not alone for afternoon coffee, but 
also because the girls loved to study there. 
A summer-house promised shelter when the 
sunshine should become hotter with the 
year’s advance, and a see-saw offered diver- 
sion in case lessons should prove too great a 
strain. 

Here Laura wandered one afternoon, now 
idly poking the snails with a twig to see them 
draw back into their shells; now catching 
the clink of swords from an open hall next 

196 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


door where some students were engaged in 
fencing; and presently looking up she saw 
Irenka coming. Although she had discarded 
crutches long ago, she had a limp which told 
that her lameness was not over, and there 
was a tired expression about her eyes. The 
two passed each other in silence, then Irenka 
turned with a vehemence that was strange to 
her. 

“Why do you not speak to me?” she de- 
manded in German. “Am I a criminal? Am 
I wicked or — not clean — that every girl 
should go by without looking even?” 

In her surprise Laura stared and could 
not find her tongue, for Mademoiselle 
d’Owoski had never shown any desire for 
her company before, and she hardly realized 
what the other girl was suffering. 

“Yes,” Irenka continued with a tragic 
gesture, “it is as if I had done a crime. I 
have done no worse than Jean — than you 
for being second — yet Olga says she admire 
me no more. My brother Nicholas has dared 
to scold — to scold me, Irene, his sister ! Even 
197 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Babette sticks out the tongue to me and 
laughs. What have I done?” 

“I think it is something different,” Laura 
said timidly. “I think it is because you let 
Aunt Minni believe what was not true. I 
think it is because you will not say that you 
are sorry.” 

The red crept into Irenka’s cheek, and 
seeing it Laura stopped short. It was the 
older girl who spoke next : 

“I do not wish to be alone,” she said. “I 
wish to have a friend. Each one has friends 
but me. W T hat did you do that Jean should 
choose you? What could I do except to 
offer ? ’ 9 

An inspiration came into Laura’s simple, 
sweet-tempered mind, and she answered : 
“You should be a friend, Renka. If Shinksy 
say yes or if she say no, be a friend to her 
just the same. Then soon she will know it. 
Do something for her she would like.” 

“What can I do?” asked Irenka humbly. 
“Ah, suppose she does not live! Suppose — 
it may be — she dies!” 


193 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


“Be hushed!” cried Laura, putting both 
hands across her eyes to shut out the April 
sunlight. “Be hushed! But come and we 
will walk together.” 

They fell into step and side by side they 
strolled about the garden, speaking of quaint 
things Jean had done and odd things she 
said, or thinking silently of their own affairs. 
After a while Laura produced a crumpled 
letter. 

“It is from my poor mother,” she ex- 
plained. “Ach, how I am sorry that she 
must be ashamed of me! But if the duel 
were all over again and I could not stop it, 
I would do the same. I could not go to bed, 
as Shinksy wished me, and let her stand 
alone.” 

“They will really send you home,” asked 
Irenka, “and not take you back? And you 
truly have no money to get more lessons in 
music? Is it true?” 

“Ach, yes, it is true,” said Laura. 

“And yet you would do the same thing 
again and get the disgrace?” 

199 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“Yes,” repeated Laura stoutly. 

“You are a good friend,” Irenka said, 
stopping still to look at so rare a sight, while 
a light gleamed suddenly in her own dark 
eyes. “I will tell you a thing. You know 
enough of music already to give lessons. I 
have heard Aunt Lotti say it. So you need 
not feel too badly. But I think they will not 
send you home if I prevent. I know now 
what I do that Jean will not be angry and 
will like me better.” 

“It’s no use begging for me,” the German 
began ; but Irenka limped off into the house, 
her head well up, an indomitable pride keep- 
ing her from showing the struggle going on 
within her. She did not find Aunt Annya 
in the office, but sitting in the hall not a great 
distance from the sick-room door, and with- 
out waiting for a reaction of will to set in 
she said: 

“I have done wrong. It is true that I 
fought the water duel and that I have let 
Aunt Minni think a lie. For himself a Rus- 
sian never asks a favor. I take punishment 
200 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


and do not complain. I remain here instead 
of being gay with pleasures in my noble 
father’s house in St. Petersburg. But — I 
implore you, honorable Aunt Annya, do not 
send Laura home! It is different. It is be- 
cause she loves the American that she has 
not kept her word!” 

Then all at once the arrogance that had 
cloaked her slipped away, the pride upon 
which she leaned broke beneath her, and 
instead of an overbearing young autocrat 
Irenka became just a simple human girl, 
hungry for pardon and affection. Next 
moment she dropped to her knees, buried 
her face in Aunt Annya ’s lap, and regard- 
less of who might come or go, gave way to 
tears such as she had never before shed in 
her life. And with the tears went her ex- 
travagant notion of her own importance, so 
that never again would she suffer quite as 
much as she did now. 

For a while Fraulein Evertz did not speak, 
but only smoothed the head bowed against 
her knee; then she ventured to say gently: 

201 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“You give up willingly all the pleasures of 
the balls and opera and the feasts and merry- 
makings for three more months? You see 
that we are right, my Renka ? ’ ’ 

“Yes, Aunt Annya,” the voice answered 
small and quiet. 

“Then I think that you also love Jean, 
and that you love Laura. I think you have 
learned to have another in your mind besides 
yourself. That is why you come to plead 
for Laura and not ask a favor for Irenka.” 

“Don’t send her home,” the voice came 
again, still small and quiet. 

“I will do this for you,” said Aunt Annya 
after a moment’s pondering, “and I believe 
you will not be in fault again. I write your 
father he shall come and take you home.” 

Irenka kissed the hand she had clutched 
in her first spasm of weeping, but when she 
tried to stammer her thanks the old lady 
checked her. 

“We shall think now of other matters,” 
she said. “The doctor is with Jean and this 
very hour is to tell — the crisis has come. 


202 


TWO GIRLS IN DISGRACE 


God alone knows Wait with me until 

we get the tidings/ ’ 

Irenka showed her power of self-control 
by rising and taking a seat on a wooden 
bench some distance off. Fraulein Evertz 
pretended to busy herself with a note-book 
and pencil, but the figures danced before her 
eyes. A clock on the wall ticked the minutes 
slowly by. Aunt Minni and Aunt Lotti 
came, put a mute question in turn, and were 
answered by mute shaking of their sister’s 
head. When half an hour had passed, Laura 
crept up the stairs, wide-eyed and white, 
guessing by their faces what they expected 
but not daring to inquire. Irenka drew her 
to the bench, and Molasses-Head felt the slim 
hand tighten on hers when at last Mr. Rose 
and the doctor appeared upon the threshold. 
Uncle Jasper glanced about the circle, his 
weary eyes betraying the strain he had en- 
dured, and his voice shook as he announced: 

“It’s all right! Thank God, it ’s all right, 
the doctor says. She’s not out of danger 
altogether, but she’s going to get well soon!” 

203 


XI 


JEAN LEARNS TWO SECRETS AND THE FUTURE 
CHANGES FOR SEVERAL PEOPLE 

4 ‘ Uncle, you’re keeping something from 
me and I think you ’re mean ! ’ ’ 

Mr. Rose went on adding viehy to a glass 
of milk and although he laughed the laugh 
covered a good deal of anxiety. The con- 
valescence had progressed sufficiently for 
Jean to be moved from Villa Elinore to sunny 
rooms in the hotel. The doctor insisted there 
was no reason now why she could not be up 
and out as well as ever and yet no one 
could persuade her to put this theory into 
practice. From having been a very sick girl 
with any amount of pluck and unselfish 
thought for others, she was now a peevish 
semi-invalid with no pluck at all. No wonder 
Uncle Jasper’s eyes were troubled as he looked 
at the slender figure lounging in the Morris 
chair, and at the drooping mouth and the fair 


204 


JEAN LEARNS TWO SECRETS 


baby hair curling around temples which 
showed too plainly their blue veins. 

“What makes you think that, Rosebud V 9 
he asked. 

“Because you’re in such a hurry to get me 
well.” 

This time he laughed in earnest. “Can’t 
follow your train of reason, little girl,” he 
said. 

“Please don’t call me little,” snapped his 
dutiful niece, as cross as if he had called 
her something dreadful. “Anyway, that 
wasn’t my real reason at all. Aunt Lotti was 
here while you were out this morning, and 
she told me to make you tell me what it was 
that detained you in New York that time. 
And Ned’s always saying in his letters that 
I ought to take good care cf you. Anybody 
would think you were sick, the way he 
scolds!” 

The hand on the vichy syphon shook, but 
the voice was calm as it asked in a casual 
way: “What did the Fraulein Evertz finally 
do about Laura and Irenka?” 


205 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“Now, uncle !” Jean replied. “If you 
think you can switch me off like that! You 
know what they did, for you told me your- 
self. They wiped out the whole score. Irenka 
has gone home to have loads of fun in St. 
Petersburg — she was sweet as sugar to me 
the day they let her say good-bye — and Laura 
will finish out the term at school. She’s got 
to begin earning her living next winter 
though, and I’m afraid they are dreadfully 
poor. I’d give anything if I could do some- 
thing splendid for Laura and her mother!” 
And the sigh that accompanied this wish 
made it plain that somewhere beneath the 
fretful manner of convalescence there still 
beat a tender heart. After a little pause 
she said in her most tyrannical tone: “What 
made you get left behind in New York and 
miss your steamer ?” 

“Get up, dear, and walk over here to 
me,” coaxed Uncle Jasper, instead of an- 
swering. “You will never get well until 
you try to walk. ’ ’ 

“I’m too tired to walk,” objected Jean, 
206 


JEAN LEARNS TWO SECRETS 


“and I don’t feel like trying. I just feel like 
sitting still forever and asking what I want 
to know till I find out.” 

This sounded discouraging, and Mr. Rose 
groaned inwardly as he carried the glass to 
her and watched while she sipped languidly 
at its contents ; but his face cleared a moment 
later and he determined to take a certain 
course with his refractory charge — a course 
he had been postponing. When she had 
emptied the glass of its last drop, he drew a 
long envelope from an inner pocket and laid 
it on her lap. 

“I have kept this from you, Jean,” he 
said gravely, “but it was only because it 
might be bad for you to get excited. Per- 
haps it’s all right now. That’s what got me 
left behind — partly that, at any rate. It’s 
a present for you. I wrote you, you remem- 
ber, but there’s not been a time when we 
could talk the matter over.” 

“A present, Uncle Jasper! For me!” He 
was rewarded by seeing the color flame into 
her face, but it soon died out again, and she 
207 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


added with evident disappointment: “Why, 
it’s nothing but old money! I don’t want 
money — unless you let me give it to Laura/ 
How could that make you miss your 
steamer?” 

“You’re a bad guesser,” said Mr. Rose. 
“It is something much more interesting than 
mere banknotes. There’s a whole house in 
that envelope! A home! Your own home, 
Jean, with the deed in your own name!” 

This time her pleasure did not fail him. 
Her face flushed again, she half rose from 
the chair, shaking the folded paper between 
her thin fingers, crying : 

“A sure-enough home? For me — for us? 
Where I can go anywhere — even in the kit- 
chen without being chased out like a sneak- 
thief or company? Where I can cook, even 
if I spoil the mayonnaise and my cake 
is hard as bricks? Oh, Uncle Jasper, do 
you mean a sure-enough home ? ’ ’ 

“Yes, dear, yes,” he answered. “There 
now, don’t you cry! I ought not to have told 
you!” 

208 


JEAN LEARNS TWO SECRETS 


She was not really crying, but her face had 
turned lily white and her emotion hurt her 
for the moment more than annoyance would 
have done. 

4 ‘ Where Polly can come?” she persisted. 
“And Paul? And all the little Martins? And 
Mammy will live there and take care of us?” 

“I hope so, Rosebud, some day, if nothing 
happens . 9 9 

“Well then,” she demanded suddenly, “if 
it’s our home, and everything’s so nice and 
splendid, why were you afraid to tell me?” 
Her uncle got up and walked over to the 
window where he stood silent, looking down 
upon the Bismarck Platz and its gay crowd 
of ladies, babies, soldiers and students; but 
he realized that the moment had arrived 
when he must tell the truth, pain her as it 
might. 

“I knew you would he anxious to go home 
as soon as you were told,” he said, “and 
you can’t go. That’s the reason, Jean.” 

She laughed lightly. “If that’s the 
trouble,” she teased him, “I don’t mind 
209 


u 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


waiting, uncle dear. School this spring and 
next winter, with plenty of travel in the 
vacations. You promised that Ned would 
come and we three Roses will ramble about 
in Norway and — — ” 

He interrupted without turning around. 
8 ‘But I can’t keep the promise, child,” he 
said. “I’ve got to leave you with the Frau- 
lein Evertz and I’m going back.” 

Something in the stoop of his shoulders 
cut into her more than the words ; something 
in the effort of his measured tone to keep 
back a deeper meaning frightened her; and 
with an inarticulate cry of pain she got to 
her feet, ran across the room, and threw 
her arms about him. 

“Uncle Jasper,” she pleaded, “tell me 
what’s the matter! I’m not sick now, and 
I’m not a baby any longer. Truly I’m grown 
up. You can’t know how much I love you, 
even if I have been a selfish thing and blind, 
too, I suppose. Tell your Rosebud what’s 
the matter!” 

He got her back into the chair, and sitting 
210 


JEAN LEARNS TWO SECRETS 


beside her with the white hands in his, the 
second secret came ont in broken answers 
to her questions. 

“Is Ned in trouble?” was the first, and 
she breathed easier at his quick denial. Then 
with all her senses sharpened by frightened 
affection she made the miserable guess. 

“I know now,” she said in a quiet voice. 
“You were ill there in New York! You’ve 
been ill, and you never let me know!” 

“Don’t worry, precious,” he said. “It’s 
all over now.” 

“It can’t be over; if it were over you 
wouldn’t keep it a secret any longer.” 

Mr. Rose with a suppressed sigh gave up 
all attempts at subterfuge. “I did have an 
illness,” he confessed. “It came suddenly, 
Jean, that night when I had gone ashore to 
wire your guardian about completing the pur- 
chase of the house. That was why I did not 
get back to the steamer. The specialist in 
New York ” 

The girl shuddered slightly and he squeezed 
the hands he held. 


211 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


1 1 Only a human doctor,’ ’ he assured her. 
“He was a good chap and knew his business. 
He got me up, as good as new ; and as long 
as I had heard of your safe arrival I just 
ran south and put through the piece of busi- 
ness myself. That’s all.” 

“I don’t think it’s all,” she said. 

“Well, except that the Berlin fellow — it 
was a great physician there I went to see — 
he says practically the same. I may stay 
here the rest of my life, or I may settle down 
at home. I have my choice, but I’ve got to 
give up gadding. If I take their advice I’m 
to live to be a hundred.” 

It was astonishing how peevishness had 
fallen from her. This was no longer an in- 
valid who could not put foot to ground, but 
a womanly young person, with all her wits 
at work on a problem that must be solved. 

“You must settle at home, of course,” 
she said, “because Ned’s there, and — well, 
because it is our home. And what do you 
think of doing with me!” 

“We decided that long ago,” he answered, 
212 


JEAN LEARNS TWO SECRETS 


watching wistfully the effect of his own 
words. “Your guardian and you and I de- 
cided that you should have one or two years 
of foreign schooling to learn the languages 
and get ready to be a teacher. You took 
that to be your father’s wish from his last 
letter.” And he finished with a little gulp 
that Jean heard more distinctly than all the 
noises from the square outside. 

“So your idea is to go home and leave me 
here?” 

“I feel safe about leaving you with the 
Misses Evertz. I have known them for years ; 
you are well, and you will get proper 
care ” 

“When are you to sail?” 

Uncle Jasper fidgeted a little under this 
fire of cross-examination, but she repeated 
the last question and he answered meekly : 

“I — I — tried to get that Berlin doctor fel- 
low to give me until September. Then we 
could have travelled. But he said — I must 
sail — next week — I’m afraid.” 

“Where are you going to live? Who’s 


213 


A DIXIE HOSE IN BLOOM 


going to take care of you in this fine plan? 
You might know a lot of men had fixed it 
up. It’s so — oh, dear! Where are you to 
stay! ” 

“I don’t know yet,” acknowledged Uncle 
Jasper with proper humility. 

Suddenly she cast his caressing hands from 
her and rose towering above him, looking 
down at his worn figure and grizzled head. 

4 ‘ Can’t you understand?” she cried pas- 
sionately. “Don’t you know how you felt 
when you saw me lying so sick in that old 
bed? Don’t you think I love you as much 
as you love me? Don’t you remember what 
my Daddy’s last wishes really were? I 
know his letter off by heart. He did say I 
was to help myself, yes, but most of all, 
he gave me to you! Don’t you want me, 
Uncle Jasper? Won’t you take me and keep 
me with you?” 

The old man reached out and clasped a 
fold of her dress in his thin fingers as he had 
done on the day of their first meeting. “I 
want you, ’ ’ he said. “I’m trying not to think 


214 


JEAN LEARNS TWO SECRETS 


Low much I want you. I’m trying to think 
wliat’s best for you.” 

Jean knelt down beside him and put an 
arm about his shoulder. “Pm a grown girl 
now,” she said. “Aunt Lotti told me I had 
a duty if I would only try earnestly to find it, 
and I see what she meant. Everybody knew 
about your being sick but me!” 

“I couldn’t bear to trouble you.” 

“Mr. Davis said once I was too- impres- 
sionable to live in a foreign atmosphere dur- 
ing these years. I don ’t know what he meant, 
but maybe you do. My guardian was always 
opposed to the German school and he will 
say we have got our senses back. I’ll take 
as many extra courses at the Randall In- 
stitute as you like — but, Uncle Jasper, you 
can’t leave me behind! I’m going with you, 
and we’re going to call the new home The 
Bush ! ’ ’ 

Her uncle laughed at the mixture of 
determination, pleading, homesickness and 
tyranny in this speech. ‘ ‘ It sounds like Aus- 
tralia,” he teased her. “The Bush! Don’t 
215 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


yon know how people return from The Bush 
in books, with more money than they can 
count? Now, you’d better lie down and rest. 
It’s a wonderful spring day; later we’ll 
have a drive to the castle. I think I’ll go to 
Villa Elinore and have things out with Frau- 
lein Lotti about scaring you.” 

She straightened his tie, bestowed a tick- 
lish kiss between his brows, and said: 

“I just can’t bear to have you sick or sad! 
Uncle, please be well, and please promise to 
tell me when you’re not! I can stand any- 
thing except being kept in the dark.” 

“I will tell you,” he said. “I will tell you 
everything, now that you ’re grown up. ’ ’ 

She saw him bravely from the room, but 
when she was alone a reaction seized her, 
and with the precious deed still clasped in 
her hand she knelt before the Morris chair 
and melted into tears. So absorbed was she 
that she did not hear a knock at the door of 
their private parlor, nor see a visitor that the 
maid ushered in without waiting for per- 
mission. 


216 


XII 


MR. NICHOLAS D’OWOSKI OFFERS A SUGGESTION 

The caller, having been informed that the 
American Herr and the young lady were 
driving but would soon be in, entered the 
parlor and laid a gorgeous box of French 
chocolates on the table, putting his card on 
top. Then without glancing around he 
started toward the door and had nearly 
reached it when a flutter of petticoats drew 
his attention to the window and the easy 
chair. There before him stood J ean, her hair 
tousled, her cheeks flushed, and her breath 
coming in quick gasps at sight of the stu- 
dent with his gaily embroidered cap. After 
an instant of embarrassment she advanced 
to meet him, and he pretended not to notice 
that she had been crying. 

These calls were a daily matter. Indeed, 
Mr. Eose had turned to Nicholas in his time 
of trouble almost as he would have done 


217 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


to Ned, telling frankly the problems that 
beset him and taking the young man’s coun- 
sel so frequently that he won the right to 
offer advice in return, sturdy advice that 
moved the Russian from a period of idleness 
and fired him with ambition. 

“Oh, it’s you,” Jean greeted him now. 
“Won’t you sit down and wait till uncle 
comes?” 

Nicholas accepted the hand she had once 
refused him, bowed over it and kissed it 
gallantly. 

“I came this time to see Mademoiselle,” 
he said. 

“Please sit down,” repeated Jean, sur- 
reptitiously rubbing the honored hand across 
her skirt, whether to preserve the salute or 
to destroy it would have been difficult to 
guess. Somehow she did not find it easy to 
make small talk with Nicholas, as she could 
have done with Ned, Paul Martin or any 
other boy of her acquaintance. Not that he 
was unapproachable either. In figure he bore 
some resemblance to his sister, being tall and 
218 


MR. D’OWOSKI OFFERS A SUGGESTION 


aristocratic, but his coloring was that of 
Olga, the gray eyes deep set and shaded 
with long black lashes, the skin clear white 
without a tinge of pink. He was smiling 
now, and in spite of his haughty mouth he 
retained the expression of a lad that had 
not outgrown his age of mischief. While 
they were both wondering how to break the 
ice, it was broken for them by a second knock- 
ing at the door and at Jean’s call Laura 
Luther thrust her molasses-head inside. 

“Meine Shinksy, meine Shinksy,” she 
cried. 4 ‘Are you alone? If the Uncle 
Shasper is here he will send me away. They 
say I shall not come, and yesterday I am 
obedient and do not come, but to-day I can- 
not live unless I see you.” 

She glanced about the room, dropped a 
tiny curtsey to the student, and caught Jean 
into an embrace that fairly took what little 
strength she had left. 

“ Laura!” exclaimed Jean, trying in vain 
to push off the hugger, “you have run away 
again! Oh, Laura!” 


219 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“Again!” repeated Molasses-Head in 
high dudgeon. “It is the first time I have 
run. That other you have dragged me ! But 
to-day I go with the maid, Louise, to the hot 
baths in town.” 

“Then where is Louise?” 

“She sits below. I need no bath. I am 
already clean.” 

“Oh dear, oh dear!” wailed Jean. “I 
don’t know what to do with you! I don’t 
think it’s fair to Aunt Annya, really, when 
they have given you another chance and they 
put their trust in you! Please go!” 

“I wish to talk with you,” objected Laura. 
“They will not know. But do not be sad and 
make frowns with the forehead. I am a 
pleasant girl.” 

“Pleasant!” said Jean. “I tell you 
honestly, I don’t call it pleasant to act that 
way. What would your mother say ? ’ ’ 

Laura’s face took on a shadow. “Ach, my 
mother is very, very sad,” she said. “She 
have not many pupils. Next year I shall 
try to teach piano, and no one will come to 


220 


MR. D’OWOSKI OFFERS A SUGGESTION 


me, because in Germany there are so many 
teachers who are older and better.” 

“ Never mind,” Jean sought to comfort 
her, relenting at the first sign of feeling on 
the runaway’s part. “It will come out right, 
I know. If you really like me, Laura, as 
much as you pretend, you would do as I 
ask you to. Get Louise — she ought to be 
ashamed to bring you here — and go to the 
baths as Aunt Annya told you.” 

“It was Aunt Minni,” Laura said without 
moving. 

“I don’t care who it was,” snapped her 
friend, whose patience had come to its fur- 
thest end. “I can’t put you out, of course, 
but I won’t speak to you again if you sit 
there all day.” 

That brought Laura to her feet, and after 
one more demonstration of her ability to 
hug, she clapped her hat crooked atop her 
braids and went away to seek her escort to 
the baths. Young d’Owoski had sauntered 
to the window and stood with back turned 
during the interview with Laura. As the 
221 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


door closed upon her he turned to call Jean’s 
attention to the antics of a great dog down 
in the Bismarck Platz, but the words stopped 
on his lips. What with two important secrets 
disclosed in one short hour, and the chang- 
ing of plans for a whole future, the girl 
was quite worn out and it had needed noth- 
ing more than Laura’s thoughtlessness to 
cause her to collapse altogether. She had sunk 
back against her pillows, her eyes were closed, 
and Nicholas saw two tears well from under 
her lids and slip softly to her cheeks. For a 
moment he watched her, wishing he knew 
how to be of comfort, noting the pretty hair, 
the sweet mouth and the tears, then he looked 
out of the window. 

“Mademoiselle Laura is full of life,” he 
remarked. 

There was no answer to this, and he went 
over to the chair he had left. “Tell me what 
the matter is,” he pleaded with a sudden 
warmth in his voice which Jean felt. 

She could not have imagined a more un- 
likely confidant than this brother of Irenka ; 

222 


MR. D’OWOSKI OFFERS A SUGGESTION 


but the things that filled her heart to burst- 
ing must be told to someone, and there he 
sat, a picture of strength with his upright 
carriage and the quiet authority in his voice. 

“I know,” he said when she still did not 
reply. “It is your uncle who causes you to 
worry. He has told you? That he is a sick 
man?” 

She nodded, but there were no words. 
“Yes, it is true,” he went on. “I have known 
for weeks. Mr. Rose has been good enough 
to talk with me, because I was here and his 
nephew — his Ned, as you say — was far away, 
and he could also not tell you while you 
yourself were ill. But there is no danger. 
He needs only to be happy and at home, and 
not travelling about.” 

“Yes, I know,” said Jean. 

“Then why should you worry?” 

“Because Pm not very old, and I never 
took care of anyone, and I love him so much, 
and Pm — Pm scared.” 

“You shall not be frightened. You shall 
say ‘I will be brave.* ” 


223 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“That’s the way Russians are,” said Jean 
in a small voice. “Renka is brave, but I’m 
not. When my Daddy got sick he — he — died 
— and now Uncle Jasper ” 

“Look right into my eyes,” commanded 
Nicholas; and she did as she was hid. 

“You know I speak the truth?” he ques- 
tioned ; and she nodded. 

“I have been to Berlin and I have talked 
with the great doctor. Your uncle is not 
to die. He is to live to be old, old man, if 
he is happy. Can you make him happy?” 

“There’s all the voyage across the sea,” 
she put in. “Suppose he should be taken 
sick, with me there alone ! Oh, I can ’t stand 
it! I can’t!” 

Her companion smiled. “You will not be 
alone,” he said. “I have another secret to 
tell you besides what Mr. Rose has told. I 
myself shall he on that same steamer. I 
have been a foolish idle fellow, Mademoiselle, 
and ” 

“I wish you’d call me Jean,” she inter- 
224 


MR. D’OWOSKI OFFERS A SUGGESTION 

rupted. ‘ ‘I’m not grown and I’m not 
French.” 

“ Thank yon,” he said simply. “My 
father has long had ambition that I go into 
the Russian Legation at Washington, but I 
would not be tied down. Now I go, and he 
is proud.” 

“What made you change your mind?” she 
asked with some interest. 

“It just came to me. I have a reason 
for doing something in the world. So I 
shall go on the same steamer with you, and 
you will not feel afraid.” 

“Oh!” said Jean, putting into the word 
all the relief she felt. “I don’t know what 
makes you so kind.” 

“May I say more?” asked her visitor, lean- 
ing forward to mark the effect of his next 
words. “You worry also about your friend, 
this wild girl, Laura. I have thought of that 
ever since Irenka told me her story. There 
must he many schools in your country and 
it must be difficult to get good teachers of 


15 


225 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


the languages. Frau Luther, I am informed, 
is an excellent teacher.” 

There was no need for further explanation. 
He had read her right. So many times Jean 
had dreamed of doing 44 something splendid” 
for her reckless, loyal, warm-hearted friend, 
and now that Nicholas touched a match to 
the smouldering wish a flame of joyous pur- 
pose flared up and warmed her through and 
through. She forgot her weakness, and jump- 
ing to her feet she capered as she had not 
capered for many weeks. 

“Oh, how lovely!” she exulted over and 
over. 4 4 1 know the very thing ! Miss Randall, 
my old teacher at home, is always fussing 
because she can’t get real native teachers. 
You mean that Laura’s mother can go there 
and teach in the Rebecca Randall Institute! 
Oh, why doesn’t Uncle Jasper come?” 

The visitor rose also and stood looking 
at her gyrations with a light in his deep-set 
eyes. 

4 4 1 must get away before he does come,” 
226 


MR. D’OWOSKI OFFERS A SUGGESTION 


he laughed, “else he will not let me come 
again. I have made you too excited.’ ’ 

Jean danced over to offer both her hands. 
“You have made me happy” she said. 
“Going on the same steamer with us, and 
thinking up the idea for Laura ! How can I 
thank you?” 

“By being my friend and calling me 
Nicholas. ’ * 

“That’s not much thanks,” she laughed. 
“I would do more than that. But I’ll call 
you anything you like.” And she clapped 
her hands like a child, never dreaming that 
the day would come when he would claim this 
careless offer as a promise. 

When Uncle Jasper came she flung herself 
upon him, crying: “I’ve found out what to 
do! We’re going to teach in Miss Randall’s 
school, and you must cable to-day and tell 
her so.” 

“Rosebud!” he said anxiously, “I thought 
you were too tired to walk! What do you 
mean? Who’s been here?” 


227 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 

< ‘ Nicholas, Nicholas d ’Owoski ! He wanted 
to see me this time, I don’t know why! He 
kissed my hand, right there ! ’ ’ 

Mr. Rose duly inspected the spot, then 
searched her eyes and said decidedly: “You 
must rest now, my dear. Go and lie down.” 

The more the plan was examined from 
various angles, the more it shone out, 
brilliant and practicable. The three Evertz 
sisters rejoiced that such golden opportunity 
should open to their cousin’s widow, and 
Aunt Annva herself made the journey to 
Frau Luther’s village to help Laura with the 
necessary explanations. An inkling of the 
matter spread through the English colony, 
and Jean got so much attention from Mr. 
Davis and his wife and all the boys, not to 
mention the stout Baron, — who considered 
the Amerikanerin a fine and spirited person 
with a sharp tongue, — that Mr. Rose finally 
threatened to put his niece on bread and 
water and keep her pride reduced to normal 
size. 

Of course, the final word lay with Miss 
228 


MR. D’OWOSKI OFFERS A SUGGESTION 


Randall across the sea; and there was an 
anxious period of waiting for the answer to 
the cable message Uncle Jasper sent; hut 
even this came to an end at last. He was 
authorized to complete the contract and it 
was definitely proclaimed that the Roses, 
with Laura and young d’Owoski, were going 
to sail at once, while Frau Luther would fol- 
low later. 

There were few lessons recited during the 
day of Jean’s farewell at school; and only 
the fact that she gave away a good half of 
her possessions as parting tokens made it 
possible for her to pack the quantities of 
things thrust lovingly upon her. There were 
photographs of the castle and of the girls, 
honey cakes and marzipan, Hannehen’s 
bracelet and Olga’s favorite ring, and invita- 
tions to return and visit in seven different 
houses. The farewells to the Aunts were 
said upstairs in private, and J ean came with 
wet eyes from the Fairy Attic to find her 
mates awaiting her, as they had done on the 
day after her arrival. Three new pupils had 

229 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


come at Easter, but they stood off and 
watched the circle that clamored about the 
departing one. 

“ Write me letter / ’ begged Hedwig. 

“Chack und Chill went up a pill,” insisted 
Babette but Olga pushed the littlest one 
away. 

“I have message for you,” the pretty 
Russian said. “Irenka have say she love 
you. It is right that you should know. She 
say she have big, big scorn to fight the water 
duel with any other but you. ” 

“I think Irenka is the bravest girl I ever 
knew,” said Jean warmly. “Please tell her 
so from me.” 

But it was Hannchen whom she saw last. 
Leaning from the carriage to kiss her hand 
to Aunt Lotti’s balcony, she became aware 
that this faithful friend was running after 
her and flinging candy mottoes with both 
hands! 


XIII 


THE ROSES TAKE ROOT AT HOME ONCE MORE 

If Jean’s first voyage had been thrilling 
because of her being alone, the homeward 
one was more delightful for just the opposite 
reason. Never were June days so perfect. 
The sky spread blue and radiant overhead; 
the water stretched green and tranquil much 
farther than the eye could follow; and the 
air held a quality of pungent fragrance that 
worked better cure than medicine to both the 
semi-invalids. Mr. Eose spent much time on 
deck, dozing and reading while Nicholas 
showed the two girls about the ship, ex- 
plaining all the points of interest and be- 
coming better acquainted every hour. 

1 ‘Talk about Egypt!” Uncle Jasper re- 
marked one day from his steamer chair and 
after a lapse of some lazy moments Jean 
echoed : 

“Talk about Egypt! Talk about your old 
231 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Norway! And think what’s at the other 
end of this!’’ 

* 4 What is at the other end, Rosebud?” he 
asked, twinkling his eyes toward her glowing 
face. 

“The Rose Bush!” she answered 
promptly. “Ned! Mammy! Home!” 

“You have never asked me where it is,” 
he said. “You don’t know whether it’s a 
palace or a shanty. You don’t even know 
what street it’s on.” 

“Oh — oh — oh,” sighed Jean, hugging to 
her the idea of a further surprise to come. 
“I don’t want to know ! I don’t care much any- 
how ! It’s going to be the Rose Bush wherever 
it is. All I want is a home where I can sew and 
cook messes — if it’s nothing but one room!” 

“And I’m to be the one to eat the messes,” 
said Uncle Jasper. “You’re very kind, but 
just the same ” 

“No, no,” she interrupted. “Of course, 
there will be Mammy!” 

“Oh, I see. There will be Mammy. In 
this wonderful home that is probably one 

232 


THE ROSES TAKE ROOT ONCE MORE 


room, there will be Mammy, and Jean will be 
off somewhere exceeding the speed limit, or 
she will be sewing dresses or stewing 

messes I think Ned and I will go to 

Rose Park, if you don’t mind.” 

“ Uncle Jasper,” said Jean, growing seri- 
ous and imploring. “Will you do something 
for me, because I want it very much?” 

“I’d rather hear before I promise.” 

“Don’t argue it with me, or say you’ll 
think it over, but just promise. You have 
given me a house, haven’t you? In my own 
name ? ’ ’ 

“Yes. No one can take it from you.” 

“I want you to give Rose Park to Ned.” 

“It’s a fine old southern estate, Jean,” 
he said, studying her face. “It’s worth a 
good deal of money, and ” 

“There isn’t any ands about it, please, 
Uncle Jasper,” she broke in, thinking more 
of her wishes than of her grammar. “Ned 
is your boy. He couldn’t be your son any 
more if he was your son. Oh, what makes me 
get so mixed up? You have given me a 

233 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


home, and of course you’ll give the Park to 
Ned. If you don’t ” 

“ What’s the penalty!” he demanded. 
4 4 Name your threat.” 

41 1 positively refuse to accept The Bush!” 

The little withered gentleman laughed, but 
it was a tender laugh, and he leaned over to 
pat her hand. “I will give the Park to Ned, 
my dear. I take you at your word.” 

At this juncture they were interrupted by 
the arrival of Laura, who walked the deck 
with a capital imitation of the dignified Cap- 
tain’s gait, and threw herself in the chair 
next to Jean. 

4 4 The great, so important Russian Ambas- 
sador is writing in the salon,” she reported. 
“He say he cannot come until he finish the 
paper he lias before him, a pile so high.” 
And she indicated about a foot in height. 

“Then he won’t be here till to-morrow,” 
said Mr. Rose. ‘ 4 It ’s a shame for him to miss 
this air. I’ll go and order him out.” 

After he had strolled away Laura whipped 
a pencil from her bag and said: 

234 


THE HOSES TAKE ROOT ONCE MORE 


* * Don’t make funny, you Shinksy girl. 
Tell me how to count your money and also 
the names of the people I shall know that I 
may write down and learn.’ ’ 

“Goosie,” said Jean. “I have told you 
dozens of times already. The American 
money begins with a mill, then a cent, a 
dime and ” 

Laura turned her bag upside down in her 
lap and displayed several coins. “ I have 
them all,” she said, 4 ‘ except the mill. Show 
me a mill.” 

“But there isn’t any,” Jean explained. 
“You just say mills; you just use them to 
count with.” 

“Ach, I understand,” said Laura. “The 
mill is what you call a bluff. You have no 
mill. You only talk very big. Now I write 
down Ned.” 

“You will see him when we land. He looks 
like me a little. But he ’s a thousand times as 
nice, and I hope you will like each other . 9 9 

“Ned,” said Laura, writing the name with 
true Teutonic flourishes, “and next — Paul.” 


235 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


She drew down her month into so droll an 
imitation of Paul’s expression in the picture 
that Jean laughed aloud. 

“You ought to put Polly before Paul,” she 
commented. “My dear old Shadow. I 
don’t know what she’ll say when you call 
me Shinksy. Have some sort of spasm, I 
suppose. ’ ’ 

“If that Shad-Fish has spasm I fight her a 
duel and hurt her exactly,” said Molasses- 
Head. “Are there others in your town!” 

“My guardian’s daughter, Annabel 
Graham. She’s very cold and reserved. 
And a houseful of Martins of all sizes. I 
love Mildred best of the little ones. She’s 
going to take music from you. And Dessie 
Miller and Dora Denton’s brothers and — oh, 
thousands that I can’t think of now. You 
will have your hands full, and you will be 
so rich you won ’t remember me. ’ ’ 

Laura screwed up her face. “I will go 
rather upon the stage,” she said. “I will act 
big tragedy and love.” 

“You’d act comedy and everyone would 
236 


THE ROSES TAKE ROOT ONCE MORE 


die of laughing,” Jean declared. "You’re 
funny even when you don’t want to be.” 

"I make you cry some day, meine Liebe,” 
prophesied her friend. "Now I write down 
Mammy, the one who is black, and will hate 
me, and say: ‘Lawsy-gootness me!”’ 

"Mammy couldn’t hate a mosquito,” Jean 
assured her and the summons to luncheon 
sent them scurrying unsteadily inside. 

The reunion at the steamship docks was 
less conventional than such meetings usually 
are; for no amount of amused spectators 
could keep Jean from kissing Ned, and the 
big fellow submitted gracefully to the caress, 
only feeling thankful that none of his mates 
were there to see. Then there were questions 
to be put and answered, and introductions 
to be made. Ned and Nicholas measured each 
other for a moment before gripping hands, 
when the former said: 

"I have to thank you for all you’ve done. 
My uncle wrote me.” 

"It was all my pleasure,” returned the 
young Russian simply. 

237 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


The party stayed two days in New York, 
and there were delicious hours of sightseeing, 
during which Laura and Ned kept up a con- 
stant bickering that made Jean threaten to 
stay alone in the hotel rather than be seen 
out in such noisy company. Then Nicholas 
said good-bye, promising to see them before 
long, and went on his way to Washington, 
while Ned said to Uncle Jasper: 

“I never was much on Russians, but that 
seems a good fellow you’ve brought over, 
uncle. He’s a dresser, too. Tie and socks 
match just right. Why, by George, he looks 
like a prince going about — what do you call 
it? — incognito. He knows how to dress!” 

“He knows a great deal more than that,” 
responded Mr. Rose. “He is a manly chap, 
and I hope we will see more of him. What 
do you think of Laura, the Loyal Friend?” 

“She’s all right,” was Ned’s verdict. 
“She makes me laugh to look at her, she’s 
so — so funny somehow.” 

“You’ve been well, Ned?” asked the old 
man, regarding with affectionate pride the 

238 


THE ROSES TAKE ROOT ONCE MORE 


length of his nephew’s limb, and the mighty 
breadth of shoulder he had developed. * ‘ Do 
you do any work with your head at all, or 
only with your body?” 

“Fair to middlin’, half and half,” grinned 
Ned. “Nothing on my mind except your 
sickness, uncle, and Jean’s, and we got an 
awful licking from a measly little team the 
other day. ftut the engineering’s all right 
too. The Judge — Paul Martin — writes that 
his father predicts a railroad bridge over 
the river at our place within the next few 
years. I’m going in for being ready to help 
that job.” 

“I’ll give you Rose Park if you do,” said 
the old man impetuously, but Ned’s en- 
thusiasm changed to cool displeasure. 

“I wish you wouldn’t try to bribe me,” 
he replied. “You want to take the good out 
of the whole thing?” 

“No, I don’t,” said Uncle Jasper meekly. 
“Go ahead, and forget I said it.” 

The New York days ended, too, and after 
the long train journey the trio reached their 


239 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


destination. It was early evening. Mr. Rose, 
full of nervous energy, escorted Jean to a 
carriage, whose shiny black driver touched 
his cap in a gesture that made her feel she 
was really at home, and hurried Laura to 
the baggage room to point out her luggage. 
After a moment Jean became aware of a 
tall, broad-shouldered figure crossing the 
pavement and stopping at the carriage win- 
dow. He did not speak but only stretched 
out a hand, and with a cry of glad surprise 
she seized it. 

“Paul,” she greeted him, “you were the 
last one I said good-bye to and now you’re 
the first to welcome me!” 

“You have changed!” he said, searching 
her rosy cheeks and laughing eyes. 

“Pfui!” she said, and tossed her head. 
“I haven’t.” 

“Why, you even use foreign words,” in- 
sisted Paul. “You look — oh, Jean, you do 
look different!” 

“I’m never going to be different,” she 
answered, coloring a little under his scrutiny. 

240 


THE ROSES TAKE ROOT ONCE MORE 


“How’s Polly! How’s everybody! Where 
are they all! I thonght they would come to 
meet me.” 

Paul smiled as if he had a secret. “Truth 
is, your uncle sent us word he didn’t wish it. 
Some dark reason. Shad’s well. You’ll see 
her. Annabel Graham’s in school in Boston, 
and won’t be home. Jean, I tell you, I hate 
foreigners and ” 

“Don’t say that where Laura is,” she in- 
terrupted. “She likes you in your picture, 
so be careful not to spoil it. She’s with 
Uncle Jasper now, looking for her trunks.” 

“I think I’ll disappear. I couldn’t miss 
the first glimpse of you even for Mr. Rose. 
I knew you before he did.” 

“Come to see me soon, Judge.” She used 
the old nickname, but Paul laughed. 

“I’m a cotton judge now,” he said. “It’s 
quicker than the law and I want to get to 
the top as soon as possible. Gee! Who’s 
this!” 

It was Laura, and the introductions were 
hardly finished before Paul said again: 

241 


16 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“Gee! Your Uncle Jasper !” and was swal- 
lowed up into the night. 

“Gee!” repeated Laura. “The Judge 
hates me already! What shall I do?” 

“Hush.” cautioned Jean. “Don’t talk 
about it now.” 

While they drove through town J ean 
leaned from the carriage window, taking note 
of every shop and sign and building; guess- 
ing first that they were bound for the hotel, 
then wondering if they would stop first at 
her guardian’s house. But the streets that 
led there were all passed by; and presently 
the carriage, making a sharp turn, swept 
into Shelby Street, the scene of her most 
precious dreams. Through the moonlight 
she could see the massive houses with their 
magnolia trees and their big flower gardens, 
and she caught the familiar perfume of jes- 
samine and roses. Her heart ached with sud- 
den memory of Daddy, then leaped with sud- 
den hope. She drew back and laid a trem- 
bling hand on Uncle Jasper’s, and although 

242 


THE ROSES TAKE ROOT ONCE MORE 

he could not see her face, he knew that the 
last of the secrets had been guessed. 

“Yes, Rosebud, yes,” he said, as if she 
had asked a question. 1 1 That ’s what I wrote 
you would make you happy. That’s what 
was in the envelope. I wanted to surprise 
you. Your old home where you were horn, 
my dear, and the paper I gave you is the 
deed.” 

Laura kept still as a mouse; and Jean 
could not speak at all. Her throat had 
closed and her eyes smarted with the prick 
of tears. She clung to his hand in silence, 
until he said in a voice so low she scarcely 
caught the words : 

“It wipes out the old score, Jean. I have 
done what I could to make the quarrel right, 
and I hope your mother knows.” 

“She does! I’m sure she does, and my 
Daddy too!” she whispered. 

The carriage stopped soon after and she 
jumped out, not waiting for the others, but 
running up the flagged walk toward the 

243 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


shadowy building. The night was fragrant 
with flower scents. Fireflies darted hither 
and thither as she had seen them dart from 
her baby days. Only one room appeared to 
be lighted, the stndio where she had often 
sat with Daddy ; but as she reached the steps 
of the marble porch she heard a laugh that 
trailed off into a sob, and was folded against 
the bosom of old Mammy, against the loving 
heart where she had wept out all her woes, 
and tantrums, her real wrongs and her 
fancied ones, through so many years. 

“Praise de good Lord,” the old woman 
cried, collapsing to the steps and rocking her 
treasure to and fro. “Praise Gawd, dis is 
de onliest thing I ever pester Him to gimme, 
an’ it’s all I wants. Blossom, oh my Blos- 
som! Is you my same chile, or is you done 
growed up to be a lady!” 

For the second time that night Jean’s 
throat filled so that she could not speak; but 
her nurse rocked back and forth, happy in 
the knowledge that she held her close whether 
she could talk or not. 


244 


THE ROSES TAKE ROOT ONCE MORE 


“Dey’s a whole raft er folks in dah 
a-waitin’,” she went on. “Yo’ gardeen, Mr. 
Graham an’ his wife been pokin’ round all 
day, axin’ questions an’ ’rangin’ books. An’ 
all de Martinses is dah, ef Mr. Paul ain’t 
gone. Dat Mildred been hangin’ onto my 
apron string ever since I got de news to 
open up.” 

“Mammy, Mammy!” sighed Jean. “Will 
I wake up in a minute?” 

“You’s awake, Blossom. Us gwine keep 
house for Mr. Jasper, an’ we-all’ll give him 
ever ’thing he wants, so fur as reason, an’ 
what won’t hurt him an’ make him sick. 
He’s a good man, an’ dess zackly like Miss 
Lucy, yo’ po’ pretty ma. An’ whar is he? 
An’ whar’s dat young lady dey says was 
good to you in Jummony?” 

“Come and see Mammy, Laura,” called 
Jean to the figure just coming through the 
gate. The sound of her voice pierced the 
walls of the old house and next moment the 
party in the studio rushed out to find her. 
While she was being hugged and squeezed 


245 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


and welcomed, Laura felt herself gathered 
into a warm embrace and received Mammy’s 
kiss upon her cheek. 

“Lawsy-mussy me!” exclaimed Molasses- 
Head, and the old woman held her at a 
distance to peer through the dim light at 
her. 

“For de Ian’s sakes!” she ejaculated. 
“She talk our language already like a born 
lady! Why didn’t somebody tell me dat 
befo’?” 


XIV 


A BIRTHDAY, A FALLING OUT. AND A BIG FIERCE 
LION DOG 

“Two Roses witli a single thought, two 
ha mm ers beat as one,” warbled Jean, seiz- 
ing the picture wire and preparing to scuttle 
up the ladder in the wake of her uncle, who 
was at the top struggling with a large framed 
photograph of the Heidelberger Schloss. But 
she reckoned without Mammy. 

Many months had elapsed since the night 
when the old nurse had welcomed the trio 
to the Rose Bush; and she had long ago 
turned over the kitchen department to 
younger hands, while she spent her life in 
ruling the domain with a sugar-coated rod 
of iron. She arrived now in Jean’s pretty 
bedroom just in time to pull the singer back. 

“Ef you means Mr. Jasper’s heart beats 
like your’n,” she scolded, “you ain’t fur 
wrong, I reckon. You both acts dess like 
two-year-olds to-day. But you ain’t got so 

247 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


much as a fryin’-size thought in yo’ head, 
Blossom, ’cause ef you had you’d recomem* 
her young ladies don’t climb ladders.” 

“I’m not a young lady,” Jean rebelled. 

“What is you, den!” retorted Mammy. 
“Ain’t dis yo’ bufday! Ain’t dese hyah 
ole black hands de same what lay you agin 
Miss Lucy’s breast — on de second Sunday er 
December — nineteen years ago ! An ’ yo ’ po ’ 
pretty ma wa’n’t climbin’ no ladders an’ 
forever disputin’ my word — lik& tomboys 
does !” 

“Poor Mammy!” murmured Jean sympa- 
thetically, trying the while to wriggle from 
the clutch that held her. “If you had only 
known what a terror you were raising ! 
Why didn’t you look ahead! Why didn’t 
you teach me better! Or why weren’t you 
smart enough to swap me for Annabel 
Graham while we were little in our cradles! 
Please turn loose my coat tails. Uncle 
Jasper ’s waiting. ’ ’ 

“How many bufday gif’s is you got 
already, Blossom!” 


248 


A BIRTHDAY 


* 1 Heaps and heaps,” was the indefinite 
answer. ‘ ‘ Count them, Mammy, for your- 
self. I think it was sweet of the Aunts to 
send Alt Heidelberg, and Uncle Jasper’s 
frame is beautiful. But I’ve refused one 
present and I’ve lost a friend.” 

The postman’s whistle outside called 
Mammy away, and Jean laughed upward to 
her uncle, and added with an effort at in- 
difference : 

“I didn’t tell you before. Paul was here 
bright and early with a tremendous Aire- 
dale. Somehow I hate those creatures ! 
There isn’t a corner in The Bush to keep him 
anyway. So I said soj — as politely as I 
could, of course, he said something else, and 
I said another something else, and he said 
another something, and then went off in a 
hateful huff. Paul did, not the dog. The 
creature bounded after him.” 

“ He ’ll get over it,” said Mr. Rose. But 
Jean shook her head. 

“I know Paul too well,” she said. 4 ‘He 
will get over it when you and I are old 
249 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 

and gray and wrinkled. He takes forever 
to forget when once he’s got a righteous 
grievance.” 

“Take yo’ letters, honey,” Mammy inter- 
rupted, “an’ sit down ladylike an’ read 
’em.” 

Jean yielded up the wire in exchange for 
a budget of mail, tore two envelopes open, 
and read aloud snatches first from one and 
then the other, while Mammy waited, hands 
on hips, and Mr. Rose lowered the castle to 
the floor that he might be free to listen. 

“Oh dear,” groaned Jean, “Ned’s team 
got a terrible beating again! It’s waste of 
time and money to keep him at college ! And 
Ambassador d’Owoski accepts the invitation 
of Monsieur and Mademoiselle for New 
Year’s. I wish he’d forget his Frenchy 
words and manners. You’d think he wasn’t 
human ! ’ ’ 

“It never struck me he was inhuman,” 
put in Uncle Jasper. “I wish Ned would 
take on a mere trifle of the polish you call 
250 


A BIRTHDAY 


Frenchy ways; and — I beg your pardon, 

Rosebud, but Paul Martin’s manners ” 

c ‘ Paul is a plain honest American boy,” 
interrupted Jean, “ without any frills. 
Only he has a horrid temper. And — oh, what 
Jo you think of this? He’s sent me a vanity 
box for a birthday present. Poor little me 
with a powder puff! Says he doesn’t know 
what a vanity box is like inside, but the clerk 
at Tiffany’s told him it was the very thing 
for girls! Gracious! And lie’s sending me 
a dog! Have they gone dog crazy? Of all 
things I detest it’s a big fierce dog!” 

“Wait, Rosebud, wait,” her uncle begged. 
“What is this vanity thing Paul is sending? 
And how can your cousin send a live animal 
all the way from New York down here?” 

“Not Paul, uncle,” said Jean, shaking 
both the letters up and down to explain their 
contents. “I told you he was mad. It’s the 
Ambassador and Neddy. The Tiffany 
thing’s from Ned, and the other’s from the 
other. I wonder if Paul would keep the 

251 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


dog for me. He’s a terrible brute, to judge 
by this description of my Lord d’Owoski.” 

“ Can’t no dogs come inside dis house,” 
grumbled Mammy. “ An’ what’s dat you call 
him, Blossom? What sort er dog’s a Voski? 
I’ll be bound a Voski would chaw up ever’ 
shoe we-all got!” 

Jean smothered her merriment in a downy 
silk sofa pillow, and Uncle Jasper laughed at 
the picture of the courtly Russian gnawing 
shoes. 

“No, no, Mammy,” he explained. “It’s 
only your Blossom’s habit of mixing things 
because she never has time to tell them 
straight. Mr. d’Owoski is the young gentle- 
man who visits us sometimes, Mr. Nicholas 
d’Owoski. You ought to know ” 

“Co’se I know,” said Mammy with ex- 
ceeding dignity. “Why didn’t you say ’twas 
Mr. Nick? He’s always sendin’ somepin’. 
Dozens an’ dozens er roses, highern I is when 
I’m standin’ up. An’ candy ontwel even de 
little Martinses got sick! Co’se I knows Mr. 
Nick!” 


252 


A BIRTHDAY 


“I don’t see what he finds to come see us 
for,” remarked Jean. “He likes to argue 
things with you, uncle, but he must find 
it rather primitive after Washington. And 
at his own home he probably eats off a golden 
plate, and has his very coat hangers studded 
with pearls and diamonds.” 

“Den he comes hyah to git a change,” 
grunted Mammy. “ I ’ll be bound he wouldn ’t 
stir a step ef he didn’t like what he finds 
when he do come.” 

“Oh, I suppose the Legation affairs bring 
him,” said Jean carelessly. “I wonder where 
those girls can be. They came early with 
their presents and they promised to be back 
by ten. I’m glad it’s Saturday.” 

As if in answer to her pondering there 
was a sound of voices outside and Polly and 
Laura came in side by side, for to the sur- 
prise and relief of everyone these two had 
become staunch friends. Perhaps there had 
been an occasional twinge of jealousy at first 
when Jean seemed to lean one way or the 
other; but she kept her balance nicely, loving 

253 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


both the old chum and the new one, and 
their own wholesome natures did the rest. 

Indeed, the months had been filled to the 
brim with happiness of various kinds. Gos- 
sips who predicted that the erratic Roses 
would soon ramble off again found them- 
selves mistaken. The old house was cool and 
spacious in summer and very snug in winter ; 
Uncle Jasper, while not an invalid in any 
sense, was frail and felt more comfortable 
after taking root at home; and Jean had 
revelled to her heart’s content in sewing 
dresses and cooking messes, though there 
were some dismal failures before either 
product could be worn or eaten. Laura, 
after spending the first months in The Bush, 
had joined her mother in a boarding place 
near the school, where the language depart- 
ment took such^a flourishing turn that Miss 
Randall was delighted. Laura too proved to 
be possessed of a natural talent for teaching, 
making the lessons so pleasant and jolly that 
the bevy of children who went first to please 
Jean kept up their music to please them- 

254 


A BIRTHDAY 


selves. Never before had so many little 
fingers thumped so many pianos on Satur- 
day forenoons ! 

None of the three girls had changed much 
in looks, except that they had their hair 
done high, and Laura had acquired a very 
upright spine in consequence of this entry 
into young ladyhood, for fear that if she 
stooped her wealth of yellowy locks would 
slide forward onto her nose. She had also 
lost her accent and for the most part spoke 
conventional English. But alas for her glib 
trick of echoing! She never became immune 
to picturesque words, catching slang and 
darkey talk in turn, and Mr. Rose himself 
was obliged to lay down the law after Laura 
had informed precise Miss Randall she was 
“batty” on Paul’s assurance that it was the 
same as saying the lady was mistaken! 

Ned, of course, spent his vacations home; 
the Ambassador, as they had dubbed 
Nicholas, found an astounding amount of 
Legation business to transact in the southern 
city; and there was but one person in the 

255 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


circle inclined to take a gloomy view of life. 
That person was Paul. He still insisted that 
Jinks had never been the same old Jinks 
of days gone by; that he loathed all things 
and persons not American; and though he 
frequently found solace and fun in Laura’s 
gay company, he would not admit as much 
even to his devoted twin. 

4 4 Jinksy, ’ ’ called Laura now , 4 4 Shadow has 
news, but I wish help before you get the 
shock. Mother says I may dye my dress, 
the one that was white and is too soiled, 
and she will have Miss Byjum make it over. 
You shall say what color it is to be, and you 
shall hurry because I am to play before the 
Woman’s Club this afternoon.” 

4 4 Please let the dress wait a minute,” cried 
Polly. 4 4 Mother wants Jinks and Laura to 
come to lunch for a birthday treat. And 
you’d never guess in a thousand years what 
I’ve just heard. Who do you think is 
married?” 

4 4 Then they did send for you, Laura,” said 
Jean to one friend while keeping a restrain- 


256 


A BIRTHDAY 


ing hand on the other to check her rising 
indignation. “Pm so glad. You’ll he the 
famous one of us, and yotir fortune is as 
good as made. Those dowagers in the Club 
can open every door to you, if you play your 
best. And you must look like a princess. 
Wear your velvet. Dye the other dress a 
delicate lavender, I think.” 

“You have simply got to listen now,” com- 
plained the gentle Shadow. “I wish Mr. 
Rose hadn ’t run away. I can tell him if you 
won’t listen.” 

“Yes, yes, Shad, I’m listening with all my 
ears. I can’t wait another instant. But 
Laura’s dress means business next time she’s 
engaged to play. Did you ever use dyes 
before!” 

“No,” acknowledged Miss Luther calmly. 
“Aunt Lotti has often told me I can do any- 
thing — anything when I have the will. I now 
have a wonderful will to make that old dress- 
look new and lovely.” And she hurried off 
without catching the last injunctions about 
using a stick to stir with and on no account 
257 


17 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


making the lavender too deep. J ean started 
after her but Polly blocked the way. 

“ Mother sent me over specially,’ ’ she said. 
i i Annabel Graham has run away and 
married !” 

‘ i Annabel Graham! Annabel the Icicle! 
Oh, Shadow, yon are joking!” gasped Jean 
weakly. “How did you hear?” 

“It was in the paper. He’s a professor 
in a school in Boston, and he’s all right, 
mother says, only they should have waited.” 

Jean began to unbutton the big apron 
in which she was enveloped, and Polly 
continued : 

“I thought maybe you would go to see her 
mother. Why, Jinks, you ’re crying ! Do you 
feel as badly as all that?” 

“I’m not crying at all,” Jean snapped, 
and letting her hair down in a flood of golden 
ringlets she brushed it over her eyes and 
face as if not wishing to be seen. ‘ ‘ Of course, 
I’m going to Mrs. Graham/’ she said a 
moment later. “I lived there for years, they 
were so kind to me, and nobody understands 


258 


A BIRTHDAY 


Annabel as I do. She does precisely what 
she decides is right. Now she’s grown np 
and married! Oh, Shadow, don’t let’s grow 
np, yon and I, and Laura! Isn’t it nicer to 
he yonng all our lives than getting dignified, 
and serious, and m — m — marrying?” 

“Ye — es,” agreed Polly slowly, but the 
word did not have the genuine ring as Jean’s 
words had had, and she changed the subject. 
“Have you heard from Ned?” she inquired. 

“Same old pitiful story,” replied Jean, 
her voice quite natural once more. “Big- 
Injun-Football-Crank got beaten again. 
There’s his letter on my desk and you can 
read it if you like. I wish you’d read the 
Ambassador’s out loud while I finish dress- 
ing. I want to get it straight about the dog 
he’s sending.” 

She did not remember Paul just at the 
moment, but Paul’s twin remembered and 
her answer was a trifle cool. 

“Oh, so Mr. d’Owoski is sending you a 
dog. I thought you hated dogs.” 

“I do,” said Jean; “I’m trying to think 

250 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


up some way to squirm out of accepting it. 
Do you think Paul would take care of it for 
me!” 

* 1 Paul! Take care of a dog Nicholas 
d’Owoski sent? Either you’re blind, Jean, 
br you’re putting on and making out you 
don’t understand.” 

i 1 Please read me the letter, ’ ’ requested the 
young lady at the bureau, but it was not 
lost on Polly that she had turned a rosy 
pink. 

“He might not relish other people read- 
ing what he writes,” said the conscientious 
Shadow to which the answer came: 

“Don’t be silly. Why should he care? 
Take Ned’s home with you, and read me 
this one now, like a good Shadow. It’s my 
birthday, remember.” 

So Polly put the envelope with the bold 
scrawl into her silver bag, and read from the 
fine writing on the crested paper: 

“Dear Mademoiselle and Jean: Many 
times may the anniversary return to bring 

you happiness and love -” 

260 


A BIRTHDAY 


“Skip that part,” commanded Jean. “Be- 
gin where it says not to he afraid.” 

Polly obediently skipped. “Don’t be 
afraid of the dog I’m expressing to you. He’s 
like a lion, probably a kind yon have never 
seen ” 

“A kind I don’t want to see either! Like 
a lion indeed ! Boys have the funniest 
ideas!” 

“I don’t think Mr. d’Owoski is a boy,” re- 
marked Polly. “Then he goes on: ‘His 
name is Chang, but I call him Lublu, which is 
a word with a meaning in my own language. 
I should wish to explain some day, if you 
will graciously permit. The creature may 
seem slow about making friends, but do not 
be frightened. He is not really dangerous 
or vicious.’ ” 

Jean had on her hat by this time, and 
Polly folded the letter into its cover, and 
followed down the steps. 

“Wouldn’t it be terrible if he turned out 
to be one of those ferocious Russian wolf 
hounds you read about? The expressman 
261 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


is sure to bring him while you’re out. Who 
will receive him?” 

1 i Mammy will be here when the wild beast 
show arrives,” said Mammy’s Blossom, who 
had a trick of shoving off unpleasant duties 
on her nurse. But the old woman, bringing 
in chrysanthemums for the studio, squelched 
this hope. 

“I ain’t gwine tend to no dogs,” she an- 
nounced; “Mr. Nick ain’t never sont dat 
bufday gif’ to me, an’ I got nipped in de toe 
onct when I was a little bar-foot nigger. 
Dat’s my share er animules what bites.” 

“Well, I’ve simply got to go to Mrs. 
Graham’s,” began Jean in desperation, when 
an idea occurred to Shadow. 

“Why don’t you refuse the package?” she 
suggested. “You can do that with the ex- 
press company, I know.” 

“And have the present returned to 
Nicholas? I wouldn’t like to hurt his feel- 
ings ” She stopped short, realizing from 

Polly’s eyes that she had not seemed to mind 
262 


A BIRTHDAY 


hurting another young man’s feelings earlier 
that day. 

“I suppose the thing will be big as a calf,” 
she said to Mammy, “and he will come in 
some kind of crate. I can’t stop now. You 
tell the expressman to get another man to 
help, and they must carry him to the old coal- 
house, the one we don’t use, and padlock him 
in. If he’s afraid, he’d better leave the box 
nailed up.” 

Next minute she was gone, and Mammy 
had a view of the two girls walking sedately 
down the street. She stood still on the 
marble steps, muttering that she would have 
thought Mr. Nick would have some gumption, 
and that Blossom was sholy gittin’ prettier 
an mo’ highfalutin’ ever day, when the ex- 
press company’s motor truck stopped at the 
gate, and the man called out: 

“Box for Miss Spencer. Live dog, I think. 
I’ll bring it up.” 

“You neenter fetch him hyah,” Mammy 
shouted back; “I’m scared er dogs. Tote 
263 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


him to de coal-house an’ lock him in good an’ 
tight . 9 ’ 

The man made some laughing remon- 
strance, but the front door banging was the 
only reply he got to this, and with a shrug 
of the shoulders and an amused grin, he 
ordered his assistant down, and between 
them they bore the lion dog to the lonely 
outhouse. 

Meantime Jean paid her visit and was in 
time to cheer Mrs. Graham and to pack the 
steamer trunk for the trip to Boston the poor 
bewildered lady felt obliged to make. Fortu- 
nately there was only good to say of the 
professor who had been eloquent enough to 
persuade Annabel the Wise to such a step. 
He was young, and the Grahams had hoped 
the pair would wait ; but both father and 
mother liked him and, to Jean’s relief, were 
even finding comfort in the rare opportunity 
of furnishing a sensation. With a lightened 
heart, she kissed Mrs. Graham, sent her love 
to the bride, and stepped once more into the 

m 


A BIRTHDAY 


crisp December sunshine. She had barely 
time to walk to the Martin Box for the birth- 
day luncheon, so she hurried along, recalling 
the delicious Saturday mornings in her 
school days when she had made this journey. 

A dark-haired little girl opened the door 
and held up a mouth for the first kiss, which 
belonged to Mildred by right, and a sturdy 
youngster who had been The Baby ran to 
claim the second hugging. 

* 4 Jinks/ ’ cried Mildred, “ Laura is here 
ahead of you, and you just ought to see her 
hands; talk about royal purple ” 

“Husk, hush! ,, came a warning from be- 
hind the scenes. “Don’t spoil the surprise. 
Come in, Jean, my dear. Many happy 
returns ! ’ ’ 

Mrs. Martin came to the door, and after 
kissing her drew the newcomer into the par- 
lor where the assembled family sat around 
Miss Luther, some gaping, others smiling, 
some sympathetic, and others only amused, 
for Laura’s hands were dyed a vivid purple, 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


from the tips of her fingers to well above 
the wrists! Jean gathered poor Molasses- 
Head into an embrace of condolence. 

“Oh, Laura, Laura!” she exclaimed. “You 
said you would make me cry some day! I’ve 
a great mind to do it now! What shall we 
do? What shall we do?” 

Laura blinked back her own tears bravely 
and forced a laugh. “I play before the 
Woman’s Club!” she said. “They will think 
I am of royal blood!” 

“Why can’t you keep on gloves?” asked 
Mildred. 

“Gloves!” put in another voice, “to play 
Beethoven in tight kid gloves! Send them 
word you’re taken ill. I would.” 

“That would not be fair,” said Mrs. 
Martin. “The Club is counting on the music 
and it would spoil their program. Anyway, 
it is a good deal of money to lose and the 
prestige ” 

“Funny old prestige, mother, if they see 
her hands,” Polly interrupted. 

“Ask them to turn out the lights,” sug- 
266 


A BIRTHDAY 


gested Jean. “I will go and see Mrs. De 
Lancey myself. I can explain and she is very 
kind. She will turn the place into midnight, 
and the music will be wonderful and 
effective.” 

“Dye your face to match your hands,” 
offered a small Martin pertly, and was ban- 
ished from the room. Jean put her arms 
once more around Laura. 

“I told you to use a stick,” she wailed. 
“Oh, why didn’t I go and watch you?” 

“Here’s Paul,” announced the banished 
one, coming back under his big brother’s 
wing. “Ask Judge Paul what you ought to 
do.” 

Young Mr. Martin greeted the party with 
a general smile, avoided J ean ’s eye, and bent 
to examine the purple hands. 

“I would go straight to headquarters, 
whichever of the ladies that is,” he said, 
“and make a clean breast of it. After all it 
isn’t a crime. Always tell the truth, and play 
a good square game, and you’ll come out all 
right.” 


267 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“Lunch is ready,’ ’ said Mrs. Martin, re- 
turning from a tour of discovery. “I think 
we ought to hurry, if Laura is to see Mrs. 
De Lancey. And Mr. Martin has sent three 
tickets for the matinee. He counted Laura 
in, hut ” 

“But I could take her place, motherkin,” 
Mildred offered kindly ; and they all laughed. 

“I won’t have the thoughts taken right out 
of my head,” said Mrs. Martin. “I have a 
great mind to send Junior instead, Mildred, 
to teach you patience and manners . 9 1 

“We meant to have everything correct and 
formal to-day,” sighed Polly, who was fond 
of ceremony; and her unruly little brother 
broke out: 

“I think some people ought to be formal 
enough to eat with gloves. They might 
poison themselves.” 

Laura shook a purple finger at the de- 
linquent, and under cover of the laughter 
that followed, Paul said to Jean: 

“It’s all right about, the Airedale. I got a 
fellow to keep him for me. But if you ever 
268 


A BIRTHDAY 


do accept a live pet from anybody else! 
Well, you know I like justice, and that would 
end off things for you and me!” 

Jean flushed under the threat that seemed 
implied ; then she gave her head a little toss. 

“I can’t promise,” she said. “ There’s 
never any telling what I might take a notion 
to do.” 

“If you have a dog,” persisted Paul in his 
most judge-like manner, “it’s got to be my 
Mike, because I spoke first.” 

Laura hurried to find Mrs. De Lancey, 
promising to report at the Rose Bush when 
the ordeal was over; and the three other 
girls found the matinee so long and thrilling 
that they came out rather dazed into the dusk 
some hours later. They stood on the corner 
and chatted with friends for a few minutes, 
then suddenly Jean exclaimed: 

“Gracious! I had forgotten all about that 
lion dog ! I wonder if he came, and whether 
he’s eaten Mammy and Uncle Jasper up! 
Come with me, and we’ll go home and see.” 

They stopped on the way to buy the stout- 

269 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


est chain they could find, and at a butcher 
shop they laid in a supply of good thick 
chops, lest the brute might be hungry and 
devour them. At the gate of The Bush 
Laura was waiting, brimming with joy over 
the Club’s polite ignoring of her hands and 
appreciation of the music they made. 
Mammy could only tell them that she had 
told the expressman to carry the creature to 
the coal-house, that she had been locked in- 
doors all day, and Mr. Jasper was in his 
room. 

It was quite dark now, so Jean handed a 
lantern to Shad, the chain to Laura, and re- 
luctantly allowed Mildred to help bear the 
raw meat, explaining that it was to be 
hurled before them from a distance. When 
the roles were understood they made their 
way cautiously to the outhouse and listened 
at the door. All was still. 

“The wolf hound might be waiting,’ ’ 
whispered Polly, “and he might pounce out 
on us from behind the pile of kindling. ’ ’ 

270 


A BIRTHDAY 


“How could he,” sniffed Mildred bravely, 
“when he’s nailed up in a box?” 

But when they got courage to open the 
door it became evident that he was no longer 
nailed up in the box; for the strong wicker 
cage, a good-sized one and fitted with sundry 
canine comforts, stood empty before their 
eyes. The three older girls blinked uncer- 
tainly into the shed’s dark depths, not know- 
ing whether to advance or to retreat; but 
Mildred, whose eyes were noted for their 
spying qualities, gave an exultant screech: 

“A lion dog!” she hooted. “He fooled 
you! He fooled you, Jinks, all right! I’m 
not afraid! Look here!” 

And she dashed into the shed, snatched at 
something which the others hardly saw, so 
close to the kindling pile it snuggled, and 
came back with her arms full. 

“That’s what you-all are scared of,” she 
jeered them. “It’s nothing but a toy, hut 
it’s alive and kicking.” 

“I wish you would talk like a white girl,” 
271 


A DIXIE HOSE IN BLOOM 


Polly rebuked her. “You don’t hear me 
using such expressions.” 

Mildred gave no answer, only running 
toward the house, and they followed as fast 
as they could go. In Jean’s room, under 
the light, the little creature proved to be 
both a lion dog and nothing but a toy. He 
weighed a scant twelve pounds; his body 
was long and lithe, covered with hair that 
was tawny yellow touched with black; he 
had a magnificent mane, and a fluffy tail 
which he held proudly so that the cream- 
colored plume swept his back. His face was 
black, with a mashed-in nose and large clear 
eyes. As soon as Mildred had released him 
he went from one girl to the other, sniffing 
soberly at their skirts, then stopping before 
Jean he sat back on his haunches, lifted his 
paws like a squirrel, and looked appealingly 
up into her face. 

‘ 4 What was it the Ambassador called 
him!” inquired Polly. 4 ‘I’ll look into the 
letter and see. May I, Jinks!” 

Jean had knelt down to gather the little 

272 


A BIRTHDAY 


dog into her arms and lay her cheek against 
his soft neck, and although she heard the 
question she gave no answer. 

“You little precious,’ ’ she was murmuring 
into the yellow mane. “Were you fright- 
ened out there alone all day? Are you 
hungry? Are you thirsty? Can you ever 
forget that and forgive me?” 

The three others watched her and pres- 
ently she said, still without looking up: “His 
name is Chang.” 

“That wasn’t the name I mean,” said 
Polly, wrinkling her brow and twinkling 
her eyes. “It was a Russian word. He 
said he would explain its meaning to you.” 

“Lublu,” murmured Jean. 

“Lew-blue,” piped Mildred. “What a 
funny word! What does it mean?” 

“I know,” Laura put in. “Olga told me 
once. The meaning begins with L.” 

“It’s nothing only lion,” said Mildred. 

Polly had turned back to Jean. “You 
can’t keep him anyway, can you?” she 
inquired. 


18 


273 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


“ Why can’t I keep him?” was the counter 
question. 

“ Oh, I don’t know,” said Polly, reddening 
and feeling sorry she had asked. “You told 
Paul — I thought you didn’t have any place 
to keep a dog.” 

Jean began addressing the lion creature 
himself, rolling him over and over on the 
rug. “Of course we’re going to keep us,” 
she said. “We don’t take up much place. 
We’re so awfully little and cute. Our name 
is Chang, and we’re going to have a basket 
and a baby blanket right in this very room.” 

“Oh, Jinks,” cried Shadow in great dis- 
tress. “Christmas only two weeks off, and 
Ned coming, when everything ought to be 
so nice. There ’s the house party planned for 
Aunt Nan’s farm, and two matinees, and 
Dora Denton’s affair, and your uncle’s ball — 
oh, don’t keep him, Jinks!” 

“What has he got to do with Christmas 
and all that!” asked Jean wilfully, though 
she knew. 

“Paul will be mad at you, and there won’t 

274 


A BIRTHDAY 


be any fun ! He brought Mike first and you 

said It doesn’t seem just fair. He’s 

such a stickler for justice. Don’t make him 
mad !” 

Jean glanced up to Laura, but that young 
lady refused to meet her eyes. Poor Molas- 
ses-Head was torn between various conflict- 
ing emotions. Jean was her beloved Jinksy, 
and would always be; but how could she 
dare to offend Paul the Judge? Laura felt 
that she must not encourage her. 

“Of all the silly things,” remarked Jean 
presently; “I hope I’m fond of justice too 
— but if Paul wants to be mad — let him!” 

And she bore the doggie off to find food 
and water. 


XV 


PAUL ASKS A QUESTION WHICH JEAN POSTPONES 
UNTIL THE NEW YEAR 

“It’s a pretty sort of mess for an over- 
worked man’s vacation,” growled Ned the 
day after Christmas, when the excitement of 
giving and receiving was over, and nothing 
seemed to last save the cloud which had 
dimmed all their fun. 

‘ 4 Overworked man V ’ repeated J ean. * * I ’m 
the one that’s badly treated! Nobody gets 
as much real pleasure as boys in college, 

for people don’t get mad at them, and 

Besides, what do you mean by a pretty 
mess?” 

The two sat in Ned’s quarters, a couple 
of top-floor rooms which he allowed no one 
to enter except by special favor. The walls 
were covered with trophies of many kinds: 
photographs and pennants, dance cards and 
motor goggles, complicated engineering 
charts and embossed certificates next to 
copies of Gibson girls in pen-and-ink. The 

276 


PAUL ASKS A QUESTION 


bedroom was rather luxurious, but the 
floor of the den had no carpet, only that 
before the fire lay a hear skin finished with 
a tremendous grinning head. 

Ned gave this head a kick that spun it 
out of his way. “I never saw such a flat 
fizzle of a Christmas/ ’ he said; “I almost 
wish I hadn ’t come. ’ ’ 

“Oh, Ned,” (fried Jean, really hurt at this 
regret. “Uncle would have been so disap- 
pointed! And after he’s given us the car! 
A brand new model. You say yourself she’s 
as good as any those northern friends of 
yours have got. I wish you would cheer 
up.” 

“I’d be the only cheerful thing in the Bose 
Bush if I did,” he answered. “Everybody’s 
got a grouch. Even if Laura were staying 
here a fellow might get a laugh once in a 
while! Why did she go to Polly’s while 
her mother visits the liebes Vaterland? What 
have you done* to the Judge to make him 
fight shy of us? He hasn’t been here since 
I came,” 


277 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Jean resorted to a trick she had discov- 
ered could he counted on to create a diver- 
sion. Bending forward she slid the bear 
head toward Chang who was as usual near 
her feet, and the lion dog sprang up pre- 
pared for battle. He could almost have crept 
between the open jaws, he was so tiny, 
but his barks were valiant, and as he darted 
around, seeking the enemy’s weak spot, they 
almost drowned the conversation. 

44 Paul’s so silly! We’re not children any 
more! Why doesn’t he use common sense!” 

‘ ‘ Would you mind my smoking!” Ned 
asked, instead of trying to solve so diffi- 
cult a problem, and at her permission he 
stretched himself lazily, went for his tobacco 
bag and pipe, and stopped beside her on his 
return. 

“Now Jinks,” he said, “tell your buddy 
all about it.” 

Jean laughed, then sighed. “You 
wouldn’t get mad at Polly — or Laura — if 
you offered them a present which they 
couldn’t take.” 


278 


PAUL ASKS A QUESTION 


“I might,” said Ned, filling his pipe with 
such deliberation that she said irritably: 

“Go on and smoke. You make me nervous 
patting and patting it down like that. I’m 
glad I’m not the slave of any habit. It’s 
all about the dog.” 

“That?” inquired her cousin, pointing 
with his pipe stem to the infuriated bunch 
of fluff rolling and tumbling on the floor. 
“How does the Judge come in? Thought 
Chang was a Eussian offering.” 

He listened without remark while she told 
her story of the big Airedale and the little 
lion dog and the quarrel they had caused; 
then he whistled several bars from the latest 
opera waltz, wrinkling his brows and pulling 
at the curl over his left eye. 

“It lets the Judge out all right,” he said 
at length. 

Jean got up, took Chang into her arms 
and spoke with her face pressed against his 
mane. 

“I don’t know what you mean by letting 
Paul out. Uncle doesn’t approve of my using 
279 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


slang, and if you’re going to be disagreeable, 
I have other things to do downstairs.” 

“Oh, please sit down,” begged Ned, “I 
want your society. What’s the program for 
this week? Don’t we do anything? Don’t 
we even see the New Year in, according to 
tradition?” 

She took the easy chair once more, started 
Chang after his grinning foe, and answered : 

“Not with an informal dance as we’ve 
always done before. Uncle Jasper insists on 
a real function this time, — a big affair, — to 
show off what nice Roses you and I have 
turned out to be. You knew it, only you 
wanted to forget, and I don’t blame you, now 
that things are so unpleasant.” 

Ned whistled softly for a little, watching 
her from between half-shut eyes. “One of 
those high-falutin’ balls where sure-’nough 
waiters wait, and caterers cate, and florists 

floor and fiddlers fid Whew ! Anything 

else to look forward to?” 

“Nicholas will be here for the ball,” said 
J ean. ‘ ‘ There is a theatre party for one 
280 


PAUL ASKS A QUESTION 


night, the Dentons — you know how you 
admire Dora! And there was going to he a 
reunion at Mr. Martin’s sister’s farm. To- 
day we were invited for; the roads are 
splendid, and motherkin was to take us out 
in a big touring car they rent sometimes. 
But since my Lord Chief Justice won’t even 

speak to me Though of course it needn’t 

keep the rest of you from having the pleasure. 
I will stay with Uncle Jasper.” 

* ‘Some more grouch,” said Ned. After a 
little he added cautiously: “Jinks, you didn’t 
treat the Judge just right. Now, did you?” 

“Well, he oughtn’t to stay mad forever! 

He did that once when we were Why, 

that other time he was huffy for a year! 
You wouldn’t act like that if a girl did you 
the meanest trick in the world, and really, 
there isn’t room in The Bush for Mike.” 

“You could find room if you took a 
notion,” said her cousin with a grunt. 

A pounding at the door broke the silence 
that followed this, and at Ned’s shout Paul 
Martin himself entered. He was beside the 


281 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 

easy chair before be saw the figure in it, 
and then it was too late to back away. He 
did not offer to shake hands, hut gave Jean 
an awkward bow, and said: 

“ Hello, Ned. Mammy sent me up. Said 
you were alone.’ ’ 

An idea occurred to Ned, and he seized 
it in hope of saving the situation. 1 1 Mammy 
was mistaken,” he answered; then turned 
with a grand air of making a presentation. 
“My cousin, Miss Spencer, is visiting me 
and I’d like her to meet you. Jean, may I 
introduce an old friend, Judge Paul Martin? 
I think you’ve heard me speak of him 
before.” 

The ruse worked although both the others 
tried to spoil it by keeping serious. Jean’s 
impulse was to depart with unruffled dignity, 
for she had been hurt by Paul’s unforgive- 
ness; but it was not her nature to cherish 
malice, and her conscience was not alto- 
gether clear, so she laughed, held out both 
hands, and said: 

“Ned, don’t be silly, and please don’t be 


282 


PAUL ASKS A QUESTION 


angry, Paul. Christmas has been spoiled 
this year, and I’ll take Mike with pleasure 
if you still want me to.” 

Paul shook her hands and dropped them 
to help Ned push forward a heavy chair. 
“Pm not angry,” he said, keeping his face 
hidden. “It’s all right, Jean. But — I’ve 
given Mike to Laura.” 

“Oh,” said Jean. Soon after she called 
Chang and started away, pausing on the 
threshold as Paul called to her: 

“The gang goes out to the farm this after- 
noon. You ’ll be ready, Jinks, you know?” 

She looked from one boy to the other, read 
the entreaty on both faces, and glad enough 
to let the past be past, she smiled and said: 

“Of course I know. I’ll be ready to the 
minute.” 

She was as good as her word, leaving 
Chang to the care of Mammy, and hugging 
Uncle Jasper until he begged for breath; 
but it turned out that the big touring car 
could not be had, and the party was divided 
into small battalions. Motherkin, with Laura 


283 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


and the small fry to keep her company, 
started on ahead in carriages ; and Ned seized 
the chance to show Shadow how well he could 
drive a flery livery steed even though he 
was out of practice. This left Paul and Jean, 
and it was Uncle Jasper who suggested that 
she take him out in the new runabout, a plan 
which pleased them both. 

It was one of those balmy days that come 
to the South without reference to season, 
arriving at Christmas as well as Easter, and 
bringing a faint suggestion of perfume that 
is either memory of springs gone by or 
promise of other springs ahead. Jean was 
driving, handling her car with a skill Paul 
envied, for his talents lay in his brain rather 
than in his hands. She was chattering gaily, 
feeling childishly happy that their quarrel 
was healed, when he said: 

“I’ve got something to ask you, Jean.” 

“Don’t ask it, please,” she answered, 
startled by his voice and turning very white. 

“But I must,” he urged. “You know 
how I feel. You know the only reason I 

284 


PAUL ASKS A QUESTION 


get so — so — mad at you— is because I care, 
because I like you! Oh, Jean, Pve liked 
you such a long, long time! Can’t we be— 
engaged?” 

It was a very earnest question, his voice 
vibrating with the affection that stirred his 
boyish heart; and Jean’s reply hurt her as 
she spoke it. 

“ Don’t, Paul!” she begged. “ Let’s be 
nice and happy! Why, you’re not grown up 
yet, and I ” 

“I’m over twenty,” he argued. “Annabel 
Graham’s married! I only want you to be 
engaged. That’s all.” 

“No,” she whispered miserably, keeping 
her eyes fixed on the road ahead and sending 
the car as fast as it would go. “I want to 
stay a little girl. Why can’t we go on being 
happy as we were before?” 

“We will be. happy just that same way! 
It won’t make any difference! I’m not say- 
ing a word about — about — marrying! Only 
I want to feel sure. I want your promise. 
Jean, Jean, I care so much!” 

285 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 

She glanced up into his eager eyes, saw 
the tense line of his mouth and chin, and 
looked down again. 

“Paul,” she said gently, “don’t make me 
answer now. You took me by surprise. You 
— you — frightened me. Let me be free a 
little longer ” 

“How much longer I” he demanded. 

“Till the New Year,” she said. “That’s 
not much. Only a few more days. Oh, Paul, 
at least until the New Year comes in.” 

“All right then,” he yielded, “but not a 
minute beyond. At the party, as soon as 
the bells begin to ring ” 

“Here’s Aunt Nan coming to meet us,” 
Jean interrupted, trying to hide the relief 
she felt. “Mildred is with her and Junior. 
Why can’t you walk the rest of the way, and 
let me take them in?” 

“Well, I suppose I’ve got to,” he said. 
And next minute he had tucked his aunt 
and the children into his place, and the trim 
runabout had shot far ahead along the 
smooth country road. 

286 


PAUL ASKS A QUESTION 


If Jean thought deeply over the question 
she was to answer, she did not show signs 
of the meditation, for she was the life of the 
house party during its two days. She 
romped with the little Martins, being never 
too tired to explore the farm or to listen to 
tales of how the hens got their feet wet and 
were too mad to lay, and of the turkeys that 
had been babies last visit and were ready for 
the table now. She arranged a moving picture 
exhibition in the quaint parlor, drilling 
Laura, Polly, Ned and Paul until they were 
really funny. She learned three new recipes 
from Miss Nan Martin, who was a famous 
cook ; and she made enough fudge for every- 
body to get sick if they felt so inclined. But 
there was one thing Paul could not trap her 
into doing, and that was to stroll off with 
him alone. He did not intend to break his 
word, of course; only he thought it would 
be pleasant to play around it as nearly as 
he could. He was disappointed even when 
the time for going home arrived, for his 
mother herself announced a rearrangement 


287 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


of partners, claiming Ned’s promise to take 
her and Junior in the car, and putting Jean 
with the carriage-load of youngsters. So 
Paul drove the sober livery horse, and it was 
Laura whom he invited to share the buggy. 

Next day the boys went across the river 
to enjoy some gunning and the feminine 
portion of the circle put its mind blissfully 
to finery for the New Year’s ball. 


XVI 


WHAT BECAME OF UNCLE JASPER S SLEEPING 
PILLS? 

“I say — that little beggar’s a whole trained 
hippodrome by himself,” remarked Ned dur- 
ing the process of early luncheon the last 
day of the year. ‘ 4 Look at him sit there 
like a wooden squirrel, and listen to him 
sleeping!” 

Everybody peered around to where Chang 
sat on the floor, his backbone rigid, his fore- 
legs up with drooping paws, an absurdly 
appealing expression on his little mashed-in 
face. He could sit thus for an hour, never 
barking nor moving, giving vent occasionally 
to a gentle snore, which was his way of 
hinting that he liked cake as well as they 
did. 

Jean bestowed the tiniest morsel of icing 
upon her pet, then said: “He’s not a beg- 
gar and he’s not a circus, and I wish you 

19 289 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


wouldn’t call him names, when he’s too well- 
bred to answer back.” 

i 1 That’s a good one,” said Ned. 1 1 Would 
you sell him, Jinks?” 

“You know I wouldn’t; not for all the 
money in this town. I love him.” 

“Bet you couldn’t pick him out if he got 
mixed with a dozen other Pekes,” grinned 
her cousin; then aimed a fling at his friend 
across the table: “Great dog, eh, Paul?” 

“Glad you like freaks,” responded the 
Judge, turning from Laura to reply. 

“Cheer up,” advised Ned with another 
grin. 

There were half a dozen young people at 
Uncle Jasper’s table, for the weather was 
perfect and the runabout had been going all 
morning, taking out different installments, 
and now to Mammy’s open indignation no 
less than four extras had stopped for the 
midday meal. 

“You-all gwine to git nothin’ but cold corn- 
bread an’ dis hyah new-f angle soup what’s 
mostly pizen an’ comes in cans,” the old 
290 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 


woman had declared; but her Blossom and 
Mr. Neddy had taken turns at cajoling, and 
despite her threats there was more food than 
even hungry automobilists could eat. 

A chorus of admiration for Chang’s back- 
bone and patience broke out, and under its 
cover Ned whispered across to Laura : “Dare 
you to tell Jinks the dog’s a mut. It’s a 
good, old-fashioned English word. M-u-t. 
Hurry up and see how pleased she’ll be.” 

Laura turned to Paul, who shook his head ; 
then Mildred claimed the floor. 

“I made a riddle, Jinks,” she said; “all 
by myself, and I bet a nickel you can’t guess 
the answer.” 

“Mildred!” remonstrated Polly, “I wish 
you wouldn’t talk so much, and mother 
told you not to say you bet.” 

“Don’t scold her in the holidays,” Jean 
put in to save her little friend. “What’s 
the riddle! I think I have the answer nearly 
ready.” 

“It’s about some people here and one 
that’s dead, I reckon maybe,” explained 

291 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Mildred, beaming at Jean and scowling at 
poor Polly. “This is it. Why is Jinksy like 
that man in history — I never can remember 
his name, but you-all know, and he lived in 
Germany. Why are you like him ? ’ ’ 

“I don’t believe I am,” laughed Jean; 
while everybody joined in teasing Mildred, 
save TJncle Jasper who tried to help by sug- 
gesting every Teuton he could recall from 
Barbarossa to the present Kaiser. It was 
Laura who finally hit upon a clue. 

‘ 1 Tell the answer, Mildred,” she said, 
“and we will guess what the riddle is.” 

“She has forgotten the answer too,” said 
Paul with true brotherly doubt, for which he 
received a flash of Mildred’s black eyes as 
she cried: 

1 1 I haven ’t ! The answer is : Because she ’s 
a friend of Martin Luther! There!” 

Alas for Mildred’s dream of applause! 
This brought nothing better than more 
chaffing. 

“You must be pretty aged, Jinks,” corn- 

292 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 

merited Ned. “I would have thought the 
good man’s friends had passed away.” 

But Mr. Rose came to the rescue. “I think 
you’re slow in comprehension,” he declared. 
“I understand. Martin, — that’s Polly, of 
course, and ” 

“No, sir, that’s me,” piped the riddle 
maker. “Jinks always liked me best of all 
mother’s children. She told me so one day 
when I was going to run away and live with 
her.” 

“And Luther is Laura,” finished Ned, 
amid groans from the other Martins. “Why 
she means that fellow — Melanchton, don’t 
you ? ’ ’ 

“That’s him,” said Mildred triumphantly. 
“He’s like Jinks, you see.” 

“Not bad for a kid,” said Ned with con- 
descension, but added hastily: “Don’t frown 
at me, for I can’t stand your displeasure! 
I didn’t mean you anyway. I meant another 
kid!” 

“It’s not polite to eat and run,” said 

293 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Polly a little later as they were rising, “but 
Laura and I have to put our dresses Into 
the trunk. Just think — a steamer trunk full 
of silk and chiffon and slippers and things! 
I’m so happy over the ball, and staying all 
night, and everything !’ ’ 

“It is nice,” agreed Jean. “Nicholas will 
be here for dinner. Ned got him the best 
room the hotel has, and ” 

“Mrs. Martin is coming to chaperon us,” 
said Laura. “I wish my mother could have 
got back in time. Wasn’t it lovely of her 
to have such a wonderful gown made for 
me — all white and spangled gold?” 

“I wish you’d say dress , like a human 
being,” complained the Judge. “Those club 
women have spoiled your English.” 

“Boys shoo out of here,” commanded 
Jean ; and Ned took Paul off to try the car 
again. 

“Mrs. Denton will help,” said Polly, “and 
Mrs. Graham, and Annabel, the bride. 
Isn’t she changed?” 

“She was always like that, good and 

294 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 


splendid underneath her icy shell/ ’ an- 
swered Jean. “I’m glad to see her so happy, 
and the Professor’s fine.” 

“I must take Mildred home. So get your 
things, chickie, and tell Mr. Rose what a 
pleasant time you’ve had.” 

The little girl did as she was bid, but not 
in silence. “I think it’s mean,” she said 
discontentedly. “I don’t want to stick at 
home while all the rest of you are having 
balls with Russian princes and Nesselrode 
pudding and chicken salad ! Mammy told me 
what you’re going to have!” 

“Why couldn’t she stay all night, Shad!” 
asked Jean. 

“She’s too young for balls, you haven’t 
room, she has seen Mr. d’Owoski already, 
and he’s not a prince. Besides, she didn’t 
dress to stay.” 

1 1 1 dressed in the very best I had, ’ ’ Mildred 
declared. “Mother washed my hair yester- 
day, and I had a bath, and ” 

“Please don’t tease us,” implored Polly. 
“It’s quite impossible.” 

295 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


Jean pondered for a moment, then caught 
Mildred by the hands and waltzed her about 
the room, Chang keeping under their feet in 
imminent danger of being crushed. 

“ I positively must have somebody to keep 
the doggie upstairs while we’re dancing,” 
she said. “If you will do that; if you will 
promise not to ask to sit up to see the Old 
Year out; if you’re not afraid to sleep alone 
in the little room next to mine; — I’ll ’phone 
to motherkin and ask her to put an extra 
nightie in the steamer trunk, and maybe it 
might be possible.” 

And possible it turned out to be, for Mrs. 
Martin was one of those precious parents 
who always say yes unless no is an absolute 
necessity. 

There was nothing to be done except watch 
and exclaim rapturously over the palms and 
ferns and poinsettia which the florist’s men 
arranged in the halls, the parlors and the 
studio where the dancing would take place. 
The best caterer in town had charge of the 
refreshments ; all the silver was ready, mas- 

296 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 


sive pieces that had been handed down from 
one Rose generation to another; row after 
row of delicate cut glass sparkled on the 
pantry shelves ; and the four girls ran from 
one place to another, full of the delicious 
excitement that belongs to nothing but a 
party, while Chang tore madly after Jean, no 
matter how often she changed position. 

“How will I ever keep that little darling 
from scampering down the steps and dancing 
the cotillion with you?” asked Mildred, as 
they were all resting in the twilight of Jean’s 
own room after the last decorators had gone. 

“Oh,” said Jean, “I meant to tell you, 
dear. You shall have the chock-chock bottle, 
and it will be fun to feed him.” 

“What’s the chock-chock bottle?” inquired 
Mildred. 

“It’s tablets that he loves. Malted milk, 
I think. You can nibble them yourself, if 
you get hungry.” 

“I’d rather nibble Nesselrode.” 

“Oh, Mildred,” sighed Polly, “that isn’t 
very polite, you know. ’ ’ Then she turned the 
297 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


reproof on Jean. ‘ 1 Jinks,’ ’ she laughed, 
“you would spoil a cherub and a seraph 
and make them sassy.” 

“We don’t get balls every night in the 
year,” was Jean’s defense. “The very first 
thing I do — next year — is going to be to carry 
a plate piled up with Nesselrode to the one 
that takes care of Chang.” 

“Honest, Jinks? To me?” cried Mildred. 
“Please come on and show me that chock- 
chock bottle.” 

“Watch the lion prick up his ears at the 
very sound,” said Jean. “Who could help 
loving him, if he is a greedy piggy? Come 
on to the bath-room, Mildred.” 

She got the tablets, and after the child 
and the dog had frisked off together, she 
unlocked the medicine chest and took out a 
second bottle. 

“I’ll just have uncle’s sleeping pill 
ready,” she said to herself. “He will be 
sure to need one after all the excitement, 
and I won’t# have to pass through Polly’s 
room to get it. I never noticed before how 


298 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 


much like chock-chock the things looked ! The 
doctor says they are a powerful drug and 
dangerous, but maybe he’s fooling us, and 
his famous pills are only malted milk ! 
Wouldn’t that be a joke?” 

“Whar is you, Blossom?” called Mammy’s 
voice just then. “Mr. Nick’s done come! 
He done cotch a early train, an ’ he say of 
hit’s too early he kin set ’round in de hotel 
lobby ontwel you wants him, an’ — lawsy, 
honey, what is you doin’?” 

“I’m trying to lock the medicine chest 
door,” said Jean, allowing the old woman 
to take the task out of her hands. “I do 
everything wrong because I’m so excited. 
Oh, Mammy — Nicholas has come — Paul isn’t 
mad — the ball is a real one, like you say my 
mother used to have when she was a girl. 
Mammy, do I look like my mother ? ’ ’ 

“You does an’ agin you don’t,” her nurse 
replied. “Sometimes you is mighty like yo’ 
pa, an’ sometimes you’s yo’ ma made over. 
Ef de Good-Lord let me behole Miss Lucy’s 
baby settled down ” 


299 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


4 ‘ Don’t settle me down, Mammy,” Jean 
begged, squeezing the fat black hand, before 
dancing to the door. “ Don’t settle me down. 
I want to be fizzling up as long as I live.” 

“I'll be bound you’ll always be fizzlin’,” 
grunted Mammy. “I gits skeered plumb thoo 
sometimes thinkin’ how fly-up-de-creek you 
is, an’ wonderin’ whether you won’t make a 
mistake dat you’ll repent.” And turning the 
hot-water faucet to test its washer, she 
brought about the very mistake she feared, 
by drowning out the last words thrown back 
to her. 

“Oh,” cried her young mistress, “I for- 
got uncle ’s sleeping pill after all. There are 
two in that bottle on the washstand, so 
please put it in your pocket until I want it, 
the bottle, I mean.” 

Mammy never caught a single word of this 
request, and after satisfying herself as to 
the suspected washer, she waddled off to 
other duties, leaving the tablets where they 
were. A moment later Jean was shaking 
hands with Nicholas. Before the mustached 


300 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 


young* gentleman had said half the things 
he had in mind, Chang flew in, followed by 
Mildred. Polly and Laura joined the party 
soon, and when Ned and Paul had completed 
the circle, Mildred suddenly said : 

“The party to-night’s for you-all big ones, 
so I think you might do something to please 
me now.” 

“What shall we do, dear!” asked Jean. 

“Would it please you to hear me sing!” 
demanded Ned. 

“I want every one of you to kneel down 
and put up your paws — I mean your hands 
— like Chang does his. Play like you were 
dogs, and I ’ll come along and feed you chock- 
chock. It tastes good.” 

“Well, I won’t for one,” said the gentle 
but very decided Shadow. “You are too old 
to say such ridiculous things. You’re not 
Junior. ’ ’ 

“I will,” chuckled Ned, and suiting the 
action to the word, he flopped down on his 
knees, put up his hands, and began to snore. 

“I don’t want to kneel,” said Laura, “but 


301 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


I will do the other part, if you can get any 
fun out of it.” She too set up a snoring 
that sounded through the studio. 

Paul hesitated, but when Nicholas had gone 
down on his knees in full spirit with the 
game, the Judge took his place in the ring 
also. Jean put up her hands and made 
Chang do the same, so that Polly, feeling 
ashamed of her refusal, followed the ex- 
ample; and Mildred went about, bestowing 
chock-chock upon them in turn, scolding the 
boys for their too loud snores, and making 
them catch the tablets in their mouths. The 
pastime grew so hilarious that Mr. Rose came 
to investigate, and even put up his hands 
and got a pinch of chock-chock. 

“Come in to dinner,” Uncle Jasper said 
presently, after a signal from Mammy at 
the door. “It is more substantial, and any- 
way there will be no tablets for the real dog 
if you keep this up.” 

“May I tell you what the little Russian 
word means!” Nicholas asked Jean in a low 


302 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 


voice, as they went side by side into the 
dining-room. 

i ‘ What word?” she said, then looking into 
his eyes she colored for no apparent reason, 
and added : ‘ i Don ’t tell me. Please don ’t tell 
me.” 

“Not now,” he urged, “this evening — 
at the ball?” 

“I want to have all the fun I can,” she 
objected wistfully. “Don’t tell me anything 
that’s — that’s serious.” 

“But I came all the way from Washing- 
ton! Oh, Jean, Jean ” 

She put her hands over her ears while 
they passed through the deserted hall. 
“Not a word until the New Year,” she said, 
“until the New Year comes in.” 

Shortly after dinner the young men van- 
ished, and each of the three girls retired 
in the wake of an anxious assistant. Mrs. 
Martin put a quietus on Mildred by telling 
her she would be sent home yet if she even 
so much as smiled out loud; and got Polly 


303 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


into a filmy chiffon that made the Shadow 
look like a Japanese cherry blossom. The 
bride helped Laura, and showed such interest 
and dexterity that Molasses-Head could not 
believe this to be Annabel the Icicle of whom 
she had heard some chilly stories. 

But Mammy permitted no hand except her 
own to touch her Blossom. She had laid 
out every piece of the costume, from the pale 
blue silk stockings and kid slippers to the 
long white gloves; and when Jean stood be- 
fore the mirror, arrayed in the blue dress, — 
cut to show the soft curve of her throat, 
and exquisitely wrought in blush rosebuds, 
a Paris creation to please Uncle Jasper — the 
girl gasped a little at her fresh loveliness. 
Her eyes sparkled with excitement ; her fair 
hair waved slightly and held its spray of 
silk flowers like a crown ; her lips parted in 
a smile as the eager breath came and went. 

“ Mammy,’ ’ she cried, “Mammy, I’m so 
happy! Isn’t Uncle Jasper splendid to give 
us such a ball?” 


304 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 


“Mr. Jasper sholy is good, honey,” the 
old woman agreed, feasting her eyes, and 
sighing as she smiled. “An’ he looks hand- 
some as a Juke to-night in his party clo’es. 
I reckon he’s waitin’ for you outside.” 

At the door Jean turned with a sudden 
recollection. “Where are those sleeping 
pills?” she asked. 

“I don’t know, Blossom,” answered 
Mammy. “I ain’t never is had ’em, is I?” 

“WTiy, I called back to you — when 
Nicholas came. If you didn’t take them, they 
must be on the washstand in the bath-room 
yet. Will you get the bottle and put it on 
uncle’s table? There were two pills in it, 
but I’m sure he knows he mustn’t take but 
one.” 

“Rosebud, Rosebud,” called Mr. Rose 
from the hall. “I’ve been waiting ages for 
you! Good gracious, I never saw anything 
so lovely!” 

“Do you really like me?” she asked, catch- 
ing her skirts in her hands and whirling 

20 305 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


around before him in the hall, to wind up 
with a few fancy steps that showed her 
twinkling feet and ankles. 

“I do!” cried Mildred, popping from be- 
hind a shadowy corner, with Chang in her 
arms. “It’s ten o’clock almost, but we 
couldn’t settle down till you-all had finished 
dressing.’ ’ 

“I like you, Jinks,” decided Ned, after a 
critical survey of the dancing blue figure. 
“And Shad’s a dream. And Laura’s so stun- 
ning she could go on the opera stage just 
on her looks.” 

The little procession started down the 
broad stairway, while Mildred and Mammy 
leaned over the banisters as far as possible 
and watched. 

“I hope Jinks won’t forget my Nesselrode 
when the bells begin to ring,” remarked 
Mildred to Chang, as they went reluctantly 
toward their little room. But the old woman 
was thinking of other things. 

“Mr. Paul an’ Mr. Nick,” she kept repeat- 


306 


UNCLE JASPER’S SLEEPING PILLS 


ing over and over to herself. “Mr. Nick 
an’ Mr. Paul! Dat chile’s worriments is 
beginnin’ early an’ I’ll he bound she’ll have 
mo ’n her share befo ’ she ’s thoo. Ef she only 
choose de right one!” 


XVII 


THE OLD YEAR GOES OUT AND THE NEW YEAR 
COMES IN 

Never was there such a ball in the old 
southern city. It seemed as if every young 
man and girl in town was there, besides many 
who were no longer young except in heart; 
for it was Jean’s first formal entertainment, 
and everybody wished to show the respect 
they had borne her father, as well as their 
esteem for Mr. Rose, and to gratify their 
curiosity about various rumors they had 
heard. It was not every night that the 
decorations of a fine house might be enjoyed, 
nor the acquaintance of a young Russian 
gentleman made! 

Jean danced with Paul, and she danced 
with Nicholas, and she went from Nicholas 
to Ned, and then to various partners in 
turn, growing more flushed as the hours sped 
by. Mrs. Graham and Annabel helped to in- 
troduce the guests one to another ; Mrs. Mar- 
tin twinkled her bright eyes into every cor- 

308 


THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW 


ner, seeing that the shyest of wall-flowers 
had company and fun; Mr. Rose sat and 
watched the brilliant panorama, speaking 
now and then to someone who passed; and 
Mammy with several other colored servants, 
peeped in from a porch window. When the 
bells rang out at midnight Polly and Ned 
were engaged in earnest discussion behind 
a screen of palms; and Laura was listening 
to PauPs description of various kinds of cot- 
ton staple, pleasing him so by her rapt atten- 
tion that he actually lost three minutes of 
the New Year before he started up and said: 

“Oh, you’ll have to excuse me, I’m afraid. 
Can I take you over there to Dora Denton? 
I have a previous engagement- — a very im- 
portant one.” 

“Will I see you again?” asked Molasses- 
Head, to which question she got no answer. 

But when he searched the place for Jean 
he could not find her. Soon there rose a 
clamoring of her name from every quarter; 
everybody was wishing the happiest of New 
Years to everybody else, and thought it just 

309 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


the least bit queer that their hostess was not 
there to receive and give the same. 

The truth was that Jean, no more ready 
to answer certain questions than before, had 
kept wary watch on a dark head and a 
blond one, and evading the owners of both, 
slipped unseen into the pantry. All alone 
she listened as the New Year chimed in; then 
heaping a plate with the delicacies which 
little girls are least supposed to eat, she fled 
up the back stairs and locked herself inside 
Mildreds room. She glanced toward the 
basket where Chang usually slept, wonder- 
ing that he did not fly up to greet her as 
was his way, but his place was empty, and 
she had a sudden prick of fear. Next 
moment, however, she saw that the little 
doggie was clasped in the arms of the sleep- 
ing child, who was faithful to the trust im- 
posed in her, and held him even to the border 
of dreamland. 

“Wake up, dear,” said Jean softly, kneel- 
ing by the bed and lifting Mildred to the 

310 


THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW 


pillows. “Wake up just a little; I’m going 
to feed you like a young bird, and to-morrow 
you can pretend it was a dream. Nesselrode 
pudding, you know ! Open your bill, birdie. ” 

Chang slid from the unresisting arms and 
did not uncurl liimself. Mildred’s mouth 
opened while her eyes remained tight shut, 
and Jean fed the ice cream to her till it was 
all gone. Then the child sat bolt upright and 
blinked like a small owl. 

“You’re just as pretty as a fairy, Jinks,” 
she murmured. “I kept Chang awful quiet. 
I gave him all the chock-chock out of one 
bottle, and I tasted some because I got so 
hungry, and then I went to the bath-room 
and found some more. There’s the bottle, 
but it’s empty.” 

She unclasped her hand and Jean’s eyes 
rested on something that brought her heart 
into her throat. Mildred had taken Uncle 
Jasper’s sleeping pills! What if she had 
swallowed one! She shook the drowsy figure, 
already slipping back into her slumbers. 


311 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


1 1 Mildred,’ ’ she cried sharply, “Mildred, 
wake up and answer me! Where did you 
get another bottle ?” 

“Bath-room shelf, I told you once,” was 
the irritable answer. 

Jean shook her again. “You haven’t swal- 
lowed any!” she demanded. “You didn’t 
take any chock-chock yourself? Don’t go to 
sleep! Wake up!” 

“I would have taken some, only Chang 
was so greedy. He ran around and around 
so I couldn’t hold him. You said not to let 
him downstairs if he ate up the whole 
medicine chest! You know you did! I want 
to go to sleep!” 

“Mildred,” begged Jean, afraid to believe, 
“think now. Try to remember, and I will 
give you anything you want to eat. Didn’t 
you taste a single tablet out of that last 
bottle? Don’t make any mistake and don’t 
be afraid to tell!” 

“I’m not afraid of you laughed Mildred 
peevishly. “No, I didn’t get a single taste! 
Downstairs you-all were eating, and I 

312 


THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW 


listened over the banisters till I heard some- 
body coming and knew I had to scoot! If 
you’re not grown up you always have to 
scoot, I reckon!” 

“Did you eat one of those tablets from the 
bottle ?” demanded Jean so sternly that 
Mildred began to sob. 

“I didn’t, I didn’t,” she wept. “Every- 
body was eating and having a good time but 
me, but the bottle only had two chock-chocks, 
and Chang was such a pig I gave him both. 
He got quiet then, and I brought him to my 
bed.” 

“Oh, my darling, my darling,” cried Jean. 
“To-morrow you shall have all the good 
things in town if you can eat them!” And 
Mildred wondered drowsily why she was 
hugged so hard against the Parisian rose- 
buds on Jean’s breast, and held there until 
she drifted again to dreamland. 

It took courage to lift Chang from the bed, 
for Jean knew now why the valiant lion dog 
had not wakened and run to meet her. At 
last she nerved herself to do it, taking him 
313 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


and cradling him in the bend of her bare arm, 
calling him tenderly by name. Mildred 
stirred uneasily, so she lowered the light, and 
with her pet still in her clasp, crept out and 
sat on the bottom step of the stairs leading 
to the attic. And here, with her tears falling 
fast upon Chang’s tawny mane and inanimate 
form, Paul found her at last. He gave a 
cry of satisfaction. 

“Jean,” he said, “I’ve been looking for 
you the last half hour. Give me my answer ! 
You know the New Year’s come!” 

For reply she held out the little dog. 
“Look,” she sobbed, “I’ve killed him! I’ve 
killed poor little Chang! By my own silly 
carelessness!” 

Perhaps Paul lost an opportunity in that 
moment. He was thinking of himself, and her 
grief for a mere dumb pet annoyed him. 

“Why, Jean,” he said, “don’t let’s think 
now of — of dogs, and things like that!” 

“He’s not — just a — dog — and things like 
that! Don’t you understand? He’s dead! 
I killed him!” 


314 


THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW 


“I’ll get you another,” offered Paul in 
desperation. “Another Pekinese, if you say 
so. Give me your promise, Jean. We’re 
going to be engaged. I ’ll get you another 
dog to-morrow.” 

Jean rocked Chang back and forth in her 
arms, and her tears ceased all at once. “I 
don’t ever want — another,” she said quietly. 
“Thank you, Paul, just the same.” 

“But we’re going to be engaged,” he 
urged. 

“No,” she answered. “I don’t want to 
be engaged. Please don’t say another word 
about it.” 

He looked down at her in helpless disap- 
pointment. “Jean,” he said presently, “you 
can ’t mean that ! ’ ’ 

“I mean just what I said,” she answered. 
And he swung himself toward the men’s 
dressing-room to get his hat and coat. 

Still she sat there. Once she heard her 
uncle speak her name, but she could not move. 
The fiddlers were playing Home, Sweet 
Home, but that did not lend strength to her 


315 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 


feet. She felt miserably that nothing mat- 
tered, whether the guests were offended, or 
if Laura and Polly decided not to stay all 
night. Finally a shadow fell across her, and 
looking up she saw Nicholas d’Owoski. His 
eyes were full of light. 

“Jean,” he said, “I have searched and I 
have found you.” 

“Look!” she begged, holding out the dog- 
gie as she had held him out to Paul. “I’ve 
killed him! Look!” 

Nicholas took Chang with a skilful touch 
of his long fingers, listened for the heart 
beat, and said: “You haven’t killed him, be- 
cause he isn’t dead! He’s asleep! What’s 
happened?” 

“I killed him!” wailed the voice from the 
stairs. “He’s drugged! He’s eaten two 
whole sleeping pills, and they are poison!” 

“They can’t be poison. He’s only asleep, 
I tell you. Don’t you believe me, Jean? 
Don’t you know I wouldn’t say what I was 
not sure of? He will sleep till the effect 

31G 


THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW 


wears off and he will be as good as ever, and 
as greedy too, the wretch.’ ’ 

“He’s not a greedy wretch,” said Jean, 
reaching for Chang once more and cuddling 
him into her arms. She did not question 
what Nicholas had said. Somehow she never 
doubted that he knew. It only occurred to 
her that he was very comforting, and next 
moment she said in a weak little voice : 

“It might have been Mildred! I left those 
horrible pills out loose where she could get 
them. Oh, Nicholas, suppose Mildred had 
swallowed them herself ! Oh, oh, 
Nicholas ” 

He made no reply in words, but he took 
her hand and held it tight, and she finished 
out her weeping. Then, drawing from his 
pocket a bit of filmy linen he touched it 
gently to her face and said: 

“This is your handkerchief, the one I got 
in Heidelberg that time. I am giving it back, 
but I want something in exchange. I want 
a promise, Jean.” 


317 


A DIXIE ROSE IN BLOOM 

The color rose through her neck and flowed 
into the face she lifted for a moment to him. 

“No,” she whispered. 

“Just a promise, Jean. Just the permis- 
sion that I may hope. The promise that 
some day you will be mine . 9 9 

“I want to stay with Uncle Jasper,” she 
said. 

“We will wait — oh, a long, long time. I 
only ask that we may be engaged. You said 
once you would call me anything I liked . 9 9 

“Ye — es,” she said, the picture of the 
German hotel parlor coming to her, her fears, 
and the kind boy who had given her courage. 

“And you know what our word Lublu 
means?” 

“Ye — es, no — o,” the answer came more 
faintly this time. 

“Your uncle gave me his permission to say 
this,” the steady voice went on. “That 
word — Lublu — is what I want you to call 
me — some day — when you can.” 






















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By GRACE LIVINGSTON HI£L LUTZ 

Dawn of the Morning 

Illustrated in color by ANNA WHELAN BETTS. Decorated 
cloth. i2mo. $1.25 net - 

Like her most successful stories, “Marcia Schuyler” and 
“ Phoebe Deane,” Mrs. Lutz’s new novel is set in New York State 
about 1826 — quaint old days of poke bonnets and full skirts. 

It is a refreshingly sweet and charming story and the author 
has created in Dawn, a gentle appealing heroine, whose tangled 
romance only serves to make more happy the beautiful ending when 
all the threads of Dawn’s life are straightened out. 

Phoebe Deane 

Frontispiece in color and five illustrations from paintings by 
E. L. HENRY, N.A. i2mo. Cloth, with medallion, $1.50. 

Few present-day books are so thoroughly wholesome, fresh and 
charming as this quiet, old-fashioned romance, as refreshingly 
sweet as the name of its heroine. 

Phoebe Deane, a motherless girl, meets the trials of a life of 
dependence, and an unwelcome suitor, with a brave, sweet spirit. 
In spite of deceit and treachery, her lover at last comes to her 
rescue, and her happiness is assured. 

Marcia Schuyler 

Frontispiece in color by ANNA WHELAN BETTS, and six illustrations 

from paintings by E. L. HENRY, N.A. Fifth edition. i2mo. 

Cloth, with medallion, $1.50. 

The story opens upon the wedding preparations for the mar- 
riage of winsome, wilful Kate to strong and good David. Com- 
plications arise by which David marries her younger sister Marcia 
instead and it is only after a period of trials and heartaches that 
Marcia wins her husband’s love when he comes to understand her 
worthiness and Kate’s heartless frivolity and duplicity. The Chicago 
Tribune pronounces Marcia “ One of the most lovable heroines that 
ever lived her life in the pages of a romance.” 


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS PHILADELPHIA 

























































































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